Tag Archives: Gov. Ron DeSantis
Gov. DeSantis awards $7.5M to Lee County for shrimp dock rebuild
Nearly two years after Hurricane Ian bashed into Southwest Florida, the area is continuing to recover. Gov. Ron DeSantis is pitching in with $7.5 million to rebuild and refurbish the shrimp dock at San Carlos Maritime Park in Fort Myers. The structure is important not just for commercial fishing but to help in emergency situations after a storm, DeSantis said. “This dual-purpose facility serves as emergency operations site to launch barges and provide a place for shrimp barges to dock,” DeSantis said during a press event at a Home Depot in Fort Myers. “If it’s needed for disaster response it’s going to be able to serve that purpose as well.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:50
Florida Gov. DeSantis Requests Aid For Fishing Industry
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday sent a formal request to the U.S. Department of Commerce seeking assistance for the fishing industry after last week’s Hurricane Idalia. Without putting a dollar figure on the potential damage, DeSantis said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo that the commercial and residential fishing communities in North Florida’s Big Bend region were “greatly affected” by the Category 3 hurricane. Florida’s Big Bend is an important cornerstone of the state’s fishery,” DeSantis said in the letter. “This region includes over 600 fishermen, 160 fishery wholesalers and retailers, 240 aquaculture shellfish farmers, and 450 for-hire charter captains, all of which play important commercial fishery roles.” ><<>click to read<< 07:54
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
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
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
DeSantis requests federal support for Florida fisheries in aftermath of Hurricane Ian
Gov. Ron DeSantis is requesting that the areas affected by Hurricane Ian be declared a federal fisheries disaster by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which would open up channels for more aide for those in the fishing industry. DeSantis announced the request Saturday at a press conference providing updates on Hurricane Ian relief efforts, highlighting support for those who work on the water. If approved, NOAA will be able to provide more support to commercial fishermen, wholesale dealers, charter boat captains and fisheries, he said. “Clearly a storm of this magnitude — this is appropriate for this declaration,” DeSantis said. “So once this is approved, then that provides these groups and people in the industry to work with NOAA to be able to get more support. So we’re happy to help facilitate that request.” >click to read< 14:58
Cortez supporters scramble – Net camp gets 60-day reprieve.
Raymond Leslie Guthrie Jr., who has been been fighting since 2017 to save his net camp on Sarasota Bay at Cortez, has received a 60-day stay on removing the structure. Circuit Judge Ed Nicholas granted the stay Monday,,, Guthrie and his supporters are looking at their options, including trying to get a long-term lease on the property, or possibly working a deal with county government. “My preference would be a long-term lease for the Guthrie family,” said Karen Bell, Net camps, picturesque structures built offshore on stilts to store nets, >click to read< 08:53
“I’m in fear of my livelihood,” “They really don’t listen to us.” Florida shortens stone crab season over industry objections
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the shortened season and other new limits are necessary to sustain Florida stone crabs,,, The agency’s scientists said many crabs don’t survive their claws being removed, and crabs have been overharvested since the late 1990s. Its data, challenged as inaccurate by the industry, showed the fewest pounds of stone crab claws harvested since 1986 during the season that ended last year. Wholesale claw prices in some areas have tanked from low demand, as diners avoid restaurants and consumers reduce spending amid concerns about the economy. The commission said Gov. Ron DeSantis may reduce the amount of money crabbers must pay for next season’s trap certificates as part of a crab-industry bailout related to the virus. >click to read or listen< 15:14
DeSantis Names 11 to His Red Tide Task Force
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday announced the appointments of 11 “expert researchers and leading scientists” to the recently re-organized Red Tide Task Force. The governor was joined in Englewood, epicenter of 2018’s monumental Red Tide event, for the announcement by Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Noah Valenstein and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Executive Director Eric Sutton. For more than 15 years, this Task Force had been inactive and without funding until its re-organization by FWC today at DeSantis’ direction. >click to read< 11:49
