Paul Reeves
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.
Paul Reeves, is a red grouper commercial fisherman from Steinhatchee, Florida.
Scope and Content Note
Paul describes how he started fishing for stone crab and lobster while growing up in Miami as a commercial skin diver. He recounts his time in the Coast Guard beginning at age eighteen in 1978 to his retirement in 2003, during which he spent his weekends spearfishing in the South Atlantic and Everglades.
After his retirement, Reeves states he bought a second commercial boat and fished for snapper, grouper, and seabass. He also purchased five hundred traps to trap stone crab and blue crab, eventually owning enough gear to fish for red grouper and snapper on a full-time basis in the Gulf of Mexico.
Reeves recalls the 2014 red tide event, beginning around September and describes seeing thousands of dead fish, mostly hogfish, groupers, trout, and sea snakes from Steinhatchee to Cedar Key. He states the event pushed grouper towards Middle Grounds by the first week of October, where they had once-in-a-lifetime catches – upwards of 2600 pounds within 24 hours.
He describes the effect of the red tide on the ocean: deep red-brown water blanketed by plankton, the smell of which burned his throat. He described the bottom as looking as if someone poured bleach on it, completely devoid of life. The poor fishing conditions then forced him to move his boat further south to Cortez later that year, which required him to drive four hours each way to continue fishing. He describes a red tide event affecting Cortez in 2019 and having to then move his boat back to Steinhatchee. He adds that the conditions improved, but the fish are not back to previous levels, though snapper are prolific and likely capitalized on the red tide event.
Reeves recounts the IFQ [individual fishing quota] program and fishing limit processes and how they have not helped the industry as promised. Lastly, he noted the 2014 event severely affected mostly grouper and mostly inshore, while other fish thrived or bounced back at a faster rate. Lastly, he ponders the reason for the severity of the event, which may or may not be attributed to pollution in the ocean.
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