11.01.2005
Bronson To Survey Wilma’s
Extensive Damage To Seafood Industry Along Florida’s Southern
Coast
Florida Agriculture Commissioner
Charles H. Bronson will survey the extensive damage that Hurricane
Wilma caused to Florida’s seafood industry during a tour of the
Marathon area on Wednesday, November 2, 2005.
A portion of the tour will be conducted aboard a fishing boat, which will provide an excellent vantage point to survey damage to facilities along the coastline. (Print and broadcast media will be invited aboard the boat.)
Hurricane Wilma devastated the seafood industry throughout an area extending from the Florida Keys to Pinellas County. Much of this area is crucial to Florida’s stone crab harvest. In addition to fish houses and other infrastructure being flooded and out of operation, many boats were damaged and more than a half-million stone crab traps and 100,000 lobster traps were damaged or lost. Tens of thousands of fresh product that had been stored in coolers was also destroyed.
Hurricane Wilma’s destruction dealt a severe blow to Florida’s seafood industry, which had already suffered damage from Katrina and Rita in addition mounting economic problems caused by red tide outbreaks, high fuel costs and an onslaught of cheap imported shrimp. Many people involved in Florida’s seafood industry are comparing Wilma’s damage to that done by Hurricane Katrina to the seafood industries along the Mississippi, Alabama and North Florida Gulf coast.
