It's not known exactly how the relief program might work, but Andrew Ropicki and Scott Jackson of Florida Sea Grant explained the possibilities in a blog post. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Division of Marine Fisheries Management says it will conduct a rapid damage assessment and anticipates making a request for a federal fisheries disaster declaration from the U.S. I hope to be partially open within a month.” A fisherman surveys the damaged causeway bridge linking Matlacha and Pine Island to the mainland. “I'm going to do it one way or the other,” he said. He's waiting for power to be restored and corpse-detecting dogs to complete their searches of the area before beginning the long process of rebuilding. His restaurant and dock on Fort Myers Beach were badly damaged, along with three of six fishing boats that harvested grouper, snapper and stone crab. Nick Ruland is not ready to throw in the towel either.

It'll be the people here that bring it back. It's important for our area to have a fishery. “We're gonna build back, “ Streeter declared. He's got four grouper boats that got tossed around that he's hoping he can fix, and a seafood truck he's been using to ferry food, ice, and other supplies from the mainland to Pine Island, now that a temporary bridge has been erected. We're dealing with impossible things.”ĭespite his overwhelming losses, though, Streeter vows he's not giving up on the commercial fishing industry here. We worked ten years and it was gone in ten hours. Everybody went out of business at one time. “Four out of five fish houses in Pine Island are gone. It's pretty much the same for most of his commercial fishing colleagues and neighbors in the region. His Island Seafood Market in Matlacha? Gone. Deckhand to Boat Owner Companion Budgeting ToolĬasey Streeter lost everything to the monstrous winds and storm surge of Hurricane Ian when it roared over southwest Florida.

Fort gag .com