Tag Archives: Florida
Idalia demolished some Florida fishing communities. But locals say they’ll rebuild
For five generations, Austin Ellison’s family has toiled in the shrimping and fishing business here in this picturesque shoreline community nestled in what’s known as Florida’s Nature Coast along the state’s northern Gulf Coast. But when Hurricane Idalia barreled into the coast as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday with 125 mph winds, his family business, Ed’s Bait House, was pounded to the ground. Ellison points to his shrimping boat, named Miss Laura, floating in a nearby canal. The storm smashed out its windows, but the vessel survived otherwise. To Ellison, rebuilding means not just the cost of construction, but the additional expense of meeting modern storm-proofing requirements — a daunting task for someone who makes less than $30,000 a year as a seasonal fisherman. Photos, >>click to read<< 09:37
Florida Gov. DeSantis To Seek Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday said the state will seek federal help for the fishing industry in the Big Bend region, as cleanup efforts moved into a second day from the devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia. Meanwhile, the state reported its first confirmed death related to Idalia, while utility workers still had about 135,000 customer power outages to tackle from the Category 3 storm, many in sparsely populated areas of North Florida. The governor’s plan to seek help from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the fishing industry followed White House approval of a separate request for a major disaster declaration. >>click to read<< 17:22
Hurricane Idalia at Category 3 strength ahead of Florida landfall
Hurricane Idalia strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm Wednesday morning, then weakened slightly to a Category 3, ahead of landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region. According to the 7 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Idalia has maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, and catastrophic storm surge and destructive winds are nearing the Big Bend. WPTV First Alert Weather meteorologist Jennifer Correa said landfall is expected around 8 a.m. Wednesday, and Idalia’s center should stay east of Tallahassee. After making landfall on Wednesday, Idalia will weaken to a Category 2 hurricane over southeastern Georgia, and then a tropical storm by late Wednesday. >>click to read<< 08:04
Coast Guard establishes Area Command Post ahead of Tropical Storm Idalia
The Seventh Coast Guard District has established an Area Command Post in advance of Tropical Storm Idalia, Monday, at Coast Guard Air Station Miami in Opa Locka, Florida. For information and interviews relating to the Coast Guard’s preparations and response to Tropical Storm Idalia, please contact the Joint Information Center at 954-546-4979 or by email >>here<< Updated Port Condition changes by the Captain of the Port will be available on the Homeport website and announced on official unit social media pages throughout the Seventh District. Check below for your local Coast Guard Sector page: >>click to read<< 19:00
Idalia emerges as threat to Florida with potential as category 3 hurricane
The National Weather Service warned on Monday that Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to intensify into a major category 3 hurricane by Wednesday. As of 8 a.m. E.D.T. on Monday, Idalia was about 90 miles south of the western tip of Cuba and was expected to become a hurricane as it approached the coast of Cuba. Idalia had sustained maximum winds of 65 mph and was moving north. While the track of the hurricane remained the same, the expected intensity has increased. Florida’s Division of Emergency Management on Monday morning said its state emergency operations center was activated to a “level 1″ in response to Idalia. >click to read< 09:50
Imported shrimp eaten in U.S. may not be safe – U.S. Rep. Castor wants to do something about it
With inventories of shrimp sitting at docks throughout the Gulf Coast due to an abundance of imported seafood, the shrimp industry and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida want to increase the purchase of domestic shrimp in the United States and provide more federal funding to regulate imported shrimp for consumers. John Williams is the executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, which represents members of the shrimp industry from Texas through North Carolina. He said a lot of his members that are suffering right now. Castor’s bill, the Laws Ensuring Safe Shrimp Act (LESS Act) would address that issue by vastly increasing funding for the FDA to do inspections of foreign produced shrimp. >click to read< 16:07
Derelict Shrimp Boat finally removed from St. Andrews Bay
On April 10th, 2022 a shrimp boat named Phi Long Hai caught fire. Coast Guard officials determined the boat’s ignition sparked the fire. The 50-foot boat sank just a few hundred yards off St. Andrews Marina and has been sitting there ever since until earlier this week when salvage crews from B-REX Industries pulled from St. Andrews Bay to the McKenzie Boat Ramp in Southport. The owner of the boat has since been charged with a misdemeanor and is responsible for the $65,000 dollar clean-up cost, says Horning. Video, >click to read< 12:06
Marty Tupin: A colorful character remembered
Longtime Cortez and Bradenton Beach resident Marty Tupin passed away on Aug. 1, just a few weeks before his 63rd birthday. Over the years, Marty was a commercial fisherman, a fiberglass and metal fabricator, an artist, a furniture maker, and more. After a portion of his right leg was amputated, Marty spent his final couple years as the ever-vigilant parking attendant at the Drift In bar in Bradenton Beach, where he zipped around on his three-wheeled electric scooter supervising the sometimes challenging two-deep, tandem parking reserved for patrons only. The Drift In, 120 Bridge St., will host a celebration of life on Sunday, August 27, at 2 p.m. Attendees are invited to bring a dish to share and to share their memories of Marty. Life’s challenges – Marty’s sister, Judy (Tupin) Mossorofo, lives in Venice with her husband, Charles Mossorofo, and they shared their insights on Marty’s colorful and sometimes challenging life. Photos, >click to read< 10:31
Miz Shirley’s Shrimp Shack after Hurricane Ian
Captain James and Shirley Driggers, owners of Miz Shirley’s Shrimp Shack, have been shrimping for nearly three decades, before Hurricane Ian. Shirley and James sell freshly-caught pink shrimp in Key West. “We started doing this because we need a house but also we need to stay in business. We need to keep our boat up,” Shirley said. Before Hurricane Ian, Shirley and James would pack their boat (named Miz Shirley) with shrimp and unload at the dock on Fort Myers Beach. The couple hired a captain to take Miz Shirley into Key West waters for shrimp, while James and Shirley sell. Video, >click to read< 09:05
Donalds introduces bill, The FISHES Act, to help fisheries recover faster from disasters like Hurricane Ian
Crabbers, shrimpers and net fishermen all took it on the chin after Hurricane Ian, with some completely out of business, and others struggling to rebuild storefronts, docks and boats. Painfully scarce: government aid dollars, despite a federal disaster declaration. Reviews, red tape and pending inspections make for a long, dragged-out process that takes years to work – if it does at all, says commercial fishing Captain Casey Streeter. The bipartisan legislation spearheaded by Naples Republican Congressman Byron Donalds would “improve the federal regulatory process associated with the allocation of fishery disaster relief (and) expedite the distribution of federal disaster relief following official fishery disasters.” This isn’t just a Florida problem. Nationwide, there are 27 such disaster declarations. “It could be salmon or cod … situations where fisheries are in trouble,” Streeter said, though he’s careful to add the legislation would be a hand-up – “just to get things stabilized – not a hand-out.” >click to read< 07:53
Goodbye Destin
I remember an old café where old fishing boat captains used to hang out. I was a kid. I lived up the road from the joint, in a cinder-block house. I frequently walked to this greasy spoon to listen to the old men jaw. Destin was different back then. We didn’t have 4.5 million visitors. Highway 98 wasn’t America’s largest automotive parking lot. We were small. We were unknown. We had old men. They were vile old men. Unshaven. Unwashed. Unsanctified. Undomesticated. Unfriendly. Un-everything. They smoked Luckys and survived on bad habits. Their skin looked like chewed-up boot leather and their teeth had gone to be with Jesus long ago. They were commercial fishermen. The real deal. A dying breed. These men did not like where the world was going, so they were always ticked off. Their favorite thing to say, “Hell, I don’t know anymore… I. Just. Don’t. Know.” >click to read< 09:24
Data shows Florida seafood landings rank below historic trends, Hurricane losses, high diesel prices likely to blame
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes and increased fuel costs have reduced the catch of Florida’s seafood industry. Florida’s Gulf Coast is the largest fishery for the state and is still dealing with the effects of Hurricane Ian in late 2022. The storm made landfall at Fort Myers and devastated Florida’s shrimping industry, sinking boats and destroying infrastructure crucial to the industry. According to preliminary data compiled by The Southern Shrimp Alliance from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fishery Monitoring Branch, Florida’s March 2023 landings off the West Coast were 72.7% below the historical average. In total, 2023 landings for the West Coast are 42.1% below historical trends. >click to read< 10:06
How Stone Crabs Built and Sustain Everglades City
Everglades City’s fishing families are resilient by virtue of necessity. The stone crab industry embodies this, dating back to Chokoloskee native and commercial crabber Ernest Hamilton. Ernest was first to recognize their fragility and potential. He halved the traditional cooking time, then blanched the claws in an ice bath, yielding delicate, sweet meat. A few years later, Ernest and others discovered they only needed to harvest the claws—the body remains inedible while the pinchers regrow within a year. On a cloudless April morning, I travel to Grimm’s Stone Crab in Everglades City to meet with the seafood market’s owner, Howie Grimm, and his son, Quinton. Howie also happens to be the town’s mayor, and Quinton is Ernest Hamilton’s great-grandson on his mother’s side. >click to read< 11:10
Southwest Florida’s shrimping industry struggles to stay afloat after hurricane devastation
Erickson & Jensen Seafood now have five of their shrimp boats back in the water, but their operations are far from normal since Hurricane Ian. “We had a nice ongoing business and we were very secure,” Grant Erickson said referring to his 75-year-old business. “Been doing this for a long, long time. And then all of a sudden in a 12-hour period, the storm just took us completely out of what we were doing.” Before Hurricane Ian, Erickson and Jensen had 11 ships bringing in tons of shrimp. From rebuilding the docks and their buildings, it’s been difficult to find the money. Video, >click to read< 13:27
Why are the whales dying? Sea mammal deaths hit record in New York and New Jersey
As whales wash up along East Coast shores at alarming rates, researchers dissect decomposing carcasses, logging whether ship strikes or fishing gear factored into each demise, while some beachgoers wonder if their favorite coastline will be next. At least 14 humpbacks and minke whales have been found dead thus far in 2023 in waters off New York and New Jersey — up from 9 in the entirety of last year. The most recent deaths were two humpbacks, whose corpses were spotted May 31, in Raritan Bay off Keansburg, New Jersey, and Wainscott on Long Island. >click to read< 11:52
Commercial fishermen furious NOAA rejected DeSantis’ fishery disaster request
Are bad policies and poorly written federal statutes to blame? Or does it boil down to politics? That depends on who you ask. But, commercial fishermen across the state are sounding the alarm about the future of the commercial fishing industry and whether seafood that comes fresh from Florida can survive. “This industry is really on the verge of being gone,” Casey Streeter said. “We are out on our own, and there is no one coming to help us,” Streeter said. “And with this denial that we just received, you know, I don’t want to call it a death sentence to our progress and move forward, but I mean, it sets us back in a way that’s going to be pretty hard to overcome, for my particular situation, and the other fishermen in the area. >click to read< 08:50
Fishermen join disaster response effort
It took 10 years for Casey Streeter to build his fishing business, but it took just 10 hours for it all to be washed away. When Hurricane Ian hit Florida last September, local Pine Island fisherman Streeter lost nearly everything. But everything changed when Streeter got a personal call from AshBritt’s founder Randy Perkins to join him in recovery efforts. That’s why it was special for Streeter to join Congressman Byron Donalds to experience AshBritt’s coordinated debris removal work in action. >click to read< 11:33
Coast Guard rescues 3 from sunken longliner off Dry Tortugas National Park
A Coast Guard Air Station Miami MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew rescued three fishermen, Sunday, after their fishing vessel sank near Dry Tortugas National Park. The Dolphin helicopter crew arrived on scene at approximately 2 p.m., hoisted the men into the aircraft and transferred them to Key West International Airport in good health. A good Samaritan contacted Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders at approximately 8 a.m. reporting the 45-foot longliner, F/V Mrs. Sandy, was taking on water with three crew members aboard. Sector Key West watchstanders used Mrs. Sandy’s emergency indicating radio beacon position to locate the vessel. 3 Photos, >click to read< 19:49
UPDATE: Coast Guard rescues 2 from a life raft near Cape San Blas, Florida
The Coast Guard rescued two overdue fishermen from a life raft near Cape San Blas, Florida, Tuesday. At 3:21 p.m., the aircrew of a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater HC-130 Hercules located a life raft with the two missing fishermen aboard. The aircrew then vectored in the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Dolphin which embarked the fishermen and transported them to awaiting emergency medical personnel. The fishermen were last reported to be in stable condition. Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received the initial call Monday evening from the vessel owner stating his vessel, F/V Capt Ken-Wil, was without power and taking on water. >click to read< 07:25
Coast Guard searching for overdue shrimp trawler with 2 people onboard near Cape San Blas, Florida
The Coast Guard is searching Tuesday for an overdue vessel with two people aboard near Cape San Blas, Florida. Missing is Michael Redman and Jimmy Mallory. There is currently no description available for the mariners. The Coast Guard began searching Monday evening after Coast Guard Sector Mobile watchstanders received a phone call from the owner of the 54-foot shrimp trawler F/V Capt. Ken-Wil who reported his vessel disabled and without power with two people aboard. 2 photos, >click to read< 17:48
$9.6 million to get all 36 shrimp boats back in the water in less than 6 months from Hurricane Ian
All the captains we spoke with after Hurricane Ian thought this whole process of getting the boats back into the water would take possibly years but it took less than 6 months and that’s because of all of the extensive hard work day in and day out to try to get our shrimping industry back. This comes as The Florida Division of Emergency Management says they’ve been able to refloat the 36 shrimping boats and it cost $9.6 million dollars to get done. Some boats are already back out shrimping while others according to a few of the shrimp boat managers had to be taken to other states because of the lack of docks in the area that Hurricane Ian tore apart. Video, >click to read< 10:37
No federal fishing disaster decision
FEMA has given out more than five billion dollars to help people recover from Hurricane Ian, but none of that money has gone specifically to the fishing industry. Last week the federal government sent a letter saying “It still hasn’t decided if it’s going to declare a federal fishery disaster.” Ian devastated the fishing industry in southwest Florida. Fort Myers Beach the shrimping fleet went from 50 vessels to just 3 after the storm. On Pine Island, 80 percent of fish houses suffered damage. Read the letter, video, >click to read< 10:06
Last shrimp boat tossed ashore by Hurricane Ian on Fort Myers Beach back in the water
A crew from Resolve Marine works at Gulf Cove Trailer Park on San Carlos Island on Fort Myers Beach to get the shrimp boat, the F/V Rip Tide back in the water on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. It was the last shrimp boat tossed ashore by Hurricane Ian to get back in the water. Almost all of the shrimp boats in the Fort Myers Beach fleet were washed ashore by the category 4 hurricane. 27 boats were put back in the water by Resolve Marine. Six were damaged beyond repair. photos, >click to read<, Watch a time lapse video of the last shrimp boat tossed ashore by Hurricane Ian go in the water. >click to watch< 12:41
Fish exporter pleads guilty to mislabeling Florida spiny lobster sold to China
The company, Aifa Seafood Inc., based in Florida City, faces a sentence of five years probation and a fine up to $500,000. A judge could sentence its president, 57-year-old Jiu Fa Chen, of Parkland, to up to five years in federal prison and order him to pay a fine of up to $250,000 during his scheduled May 23 hearing in Miami. According to an Oct. 5, 2022, grand jury indictment, from May 16, 2019, to Aug. 3, 2019, the company bought about 5,900 pounds of lobster from a company in Port Au Prince, Haiti, and turned around and exported it to customers in China with the label, “Florida Spiny Lobster, Product of the USA.” >click to read< 15:32
The Reason Rock Shrimp Were Almost Never Brought to Market
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That simple saying sums up the story of how a Florida boat builder-turned-fisherman came to introduce the world to rock shrimp. It’s difficult to imagine now, but back in the 1970s, shrimp trawlers hauling catch off the southeastern coast of the U.S. routinely dismissed a particular variety of shrimp as not worth the effort. In 1968, Thompson debuted his state-of-the-art fiberglass shrimp trawler, the R.C. Brent Jr., to little acclaim. Unfortunately, traditional shrimpers at the time weren’t ready to embrace Thompson’s fiberglass technology. With a growing family to support and boat sales on the wane, Thompson set out to prove the superiority of his fiberglass design — by going fishing. >click to read< 09:10
SWFL shrimp company pushing on despite seafood industry’s struggles
Shrimpers tell us it’s been an excellent year for pink shrimp, despite Southwest Florida’s struggling seafood industry. We checked in with Erickson & Jensen Seafood, the only shrimp company with boats in the water right now on Fort Myers Beach. With four boats in the water, E&J has been able to bring back about a fourth of their workers. “We’re desperately trying to sell as much as we can wherever we can,” said Grant Erickson, owner of Erickson & Jensen. “It’s very expensive. It’s very devastating. We’ve got problems at all ends in this business.” Video, >click to read< 14:14
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
Shrimp and Grit: Fighting to save the Fort Myers Beach shrimping fleet after Ian’s devastation
The Perseverance sunk. The Penny V was crushed. The Pleiades cracked in half. Aces & Eights had five holes. The Babe took a beating. The Capt. Ryan was boxed in. The Kayden Nicole tipped. Boats were scattered along the San Carlos Island waterfront in clusters. Six boats were flung into bushes, sea grape trees and dead mangroves not far from Trico Shrimp Company, the other major shrimp player on the waterfront. Ten floated maybe a quarter mile west, up into an RV park and a boatyard. Most of these boats were old before Ian arrived. They had been built to last one decade but stretched for five, held together with the glue of ingenuity, by owners and mechanics unwilling to concede to those who called it a dying industry. Right after Ian, just one boat was fit for sea. It was the F/V Malolo, the namesake of the boat Anna’s great-grandfather had first brought to Fort Myers. Photos, >click to read< 21:30
One by one, shrimp boats are being lifted back into the water on San Carlos Island
They’re lifting a 290,000-pound boat after Hurricane Ian tossed it around and brought it on land. Scott Schofield knows a thing or two about watching the big shrimp boats being lifted and removed because he’s been out here watching, and recording, every move of these boats. Meticulous is one way to describe it. Painstaking is another. The process takes anywhere from a day and a half to two days. For boats like F/V Captain Eddie 99, it’ll be the full two days. Video, >click to read< 11:34
Hurricane Ian remains lingering threat to SWFL’s commercial fishing industry
Florida’s Gulf Coast has experienced many hurricanes, but Ian wasn’t like anything local commercial fishermen had seen before. “I don’t think any of these storms in other places have wiped out all the infrastructure as they did for us,” Streeter says. “In Lee County, we definitely lost three of the deep-water working waterfronts, and on the island, we lost three out of the four fish houses that were executing fisheries. So, we took a major hit. It’s going to be really difficult to get these fisheries back online as they were until we get that infrastructure, until we get docks in and until we get refrigeration.” “We’re in a hard spot right now and we definitely need some help from our governor. We definitely need some congressional federal help for our fisheries.” photos, >click to read< 08:38
