Tag Archives: Pine Island
How two islands could shape Florida’s post-Ian recovery
Tanned bare feet sticking out from a pair of loose-fitting blue Dickies, Joey Burnsed looks every bit the islander. The past few months, however, have shown another side of the lifestyle. His usually packed charter fishing schedule blew away with Hurricane Ian. But like a true islander, he’s taken it in stride, coping with whatever challenges the day throws his way. Recently, that’s meant a new gig: steering his skiff to remote mangrove thickets on Pine Island, Florida, so cleanup crews can clear storm debris. You could call that the Pine Island way – independent, resourceful, and a little stubborn. To some, the island is a modern-day link to “Old Florida,” a retreat for raconteurs, crabbers, artists, the funky and the frivolous. >click to read< 12:47
Local fishermen help those devastated by Hurricane Ian
The Organized Fisherman of Florida (OFF) Cortez chapter has already made one boat trip to Pine Island to deliver supplies to fellow fishermen who lost everything, and more trips are planned. OFF Executive Director Alexis Meschelle is spearheading the campaign with her husband, OFF President Nathan Meschelle. “When our guys saw that fish houses down there that had been in existence for three generations were gone, their boats were gone, their traps were gone, we knew we had to help,” she said. “We couldn’t imagine what that would be like to lose all that. And we knew that they would do the same for us.” >click to read< 16:55
Florida: Pine Island man sentenced in stone crab case of crabs taken from traps that weren’t his
A Pine Island man facing multiple charges of harvesting stone crab and other species from traps that weren’t his got two years’ probation and credit for a one-day jail sentence. Steve Harry Long, 65, of Pineland, withdrew a not guilty plea and pleaded no contest Aug. 3 in early resolution court before Senior Circuit Judge Thomas Reese. Long faced 16 conservation law violations including multiple counts of molestation of stone crap traps without consent of the owner, possession of egg-bearing female stone crabs, possession of undersized sheepshead and blue crab trap molestation. >click to read< 15:02
