Very interesting reading. Makes you want to drive along the coast and enjoy the landmarks of old Florida before they're all gone. The face of the Florida Panhandle is in constant flux, and ten years' time, it will look completely different from what we see now.
There is no place for the working man and his plywood boat here: How can he pay the nearly $200-per-month slip fee? (...) The few opportunities for the displaced fishermen will lie in sweeping up tourist crumbs in million-dollar waterfront condos. (...) [D]rive to Carrabelle and witness the respect paid to the local fishermen there. The shrimp houses have all but vanished, as have the fishing trawlers. (...) There has been a rumor about the Apalachicola Maritime Museum being revived. Such an effort is honorable but also paradoxical. Today we have a living museum called the Apalachicola Bay working waterfront, where Old Florida still exists and where heroic souls work with the sea to forge a living. (...) Today we have a choice: Preserve that legacy or relegate it to a cobwebbed museum exhibit of what once was.
The article also features some vivid descriptions and quotes from local fisher- and oystermen. Some well over 70 years old, they brave humidity, furnace-like temperatures and the back-breaking work of hoisting 40 pounds of oysters from the bay floor. They may be the last of their kind as this important part of Florida heritage dies out, to make room for more profitable endeavors.
