Lou Bagget
A History of Red Tide events on the West Coast of Florida
This collection was created during the 2017-2018 red tide event that had major ecosystem impacts on the west coast of Florida. Fish harvesters and related businesses suffered major setbacks during this time. Fishers, with a long history on the water and oftentimes second or third generation involved in the fishing business, reminisce about how the ecosystem has changed during their and their families time and the red tides they have witnessed. The collection provides information on species affected, specific areas affected, as well as discussions related to adaptation behaviors and specific business impacts.
Lou Baggett is a 5th generation Floridian fisherman. He was once a commercial fisherman, and now mostly employs charter services.
Scope and Content Note
In this interview, Baggett enlightens us on the rapid, environmental changes occurring in southwest Florida. The most intense Red Tide he has experienced was in 2013, which he attributes to a phosphate dumping event.
He does connect the overall environmental degradation - a result of both irresponsible commercial and recreational fishing occurring with newer generations of fishermen and the urban and industrial unchecked development that results in sewage and industrial spills - to the more intense occurrence of red tides. He talks extensively about his love and care for ""the resource"" or the environment and how he was taught to give back and protect "the resource" as a key tenant of ethical commercial fishermen.
Captain Lou Bagget talks a lot about the net ban how it was an excuse to reduce fishing and in this way reduce the liability of oil companies. He argues that following an example in the Carribbean where after an oil spill they had to pay fishermen for damaging the environment, the oil companies operating in the Gulf initiated a campaign to argue that the gill nets were killing too much wildlife. Capt. Lou Bagget argues that on the contrary these (the gill nets) were some of the safest fishing methods with little bycatch mortality. While the state and federal governments invested substantially in fisher retraining programs - especially in aquaculture, these investments were not fruitful - mostly because of the inadequate aquaculture programs. After trying in vain to grow his aquaculture business he gave up and started working as a charter fishermen. It is in this context that he gots involved in cleaning the Boca Grande pass which had been overwhelmed by fish nets and other debris. He argues that fishermen have been vilified for the degradation of the environment in an unfair way.
He talks about the impact that environmental degradation has on his mental health and links it to the fact that fishing is not merely a job, but a way of life that he has lost or is going to lose.
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