Learning to Relax in Apalachicola

The streets of Apalachicola are wide, flat and very quiet as my husband and I start toward the docks. We've come to this sleepy little Panhandle town to get away -- from our kids, from work, from the noise and traffic of city life. It's nice to dream occasionally about living somewhere different, doing something simpler. Visiting Apalachicola, with its brick storefronts and old clapboard houses decorated with gingerbread trim, is like stepping back in time.

In the years just before the Civil War, the city was Florida's busiest port, shipping cotton, timber and other agricultural products from Georgia, Florida and Alabama to the cities of the Northeast. The streets are still wide enough to

Gone Fishing
Commercial fishing has long been an important industry in Florida. More than6,000 people held "salt water product" licenses in Florida in 1994, indicating they made at least part of their living from fishing. More than 580 seafood wholesalers and 2,550 retailers also depended on seafood for their livelihood. The importance of fishing doesn't end there, of course. In some small coastal communities, income from fishing is the basis of the economy. A constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters in November 1994 bans two kinds of net fishing beginning July 1, 1995. Gill nets and other entangling nets were banned in all Florida waters. Nets larger than 500 square feet in area were prohibited in nearshore and inshore waters (within three miles of the coast.) The amendment will change the way of life for a significant portion of Florida's commercial fishing community, and the state has created a special economic assistance program for those affected.

accommodate cotton wagons, and old brick warehouses still line Water and Commerce streets. Today, many of them are being turned into art and antique galleries, catering to tourists from South Florida and the eastern seaboard. They come to stay in the town's bed and breakfasts, and to watch the shrimping fleet head out to sea. The docks are quiet this evening, too. Gnarled shrimp boats with nets hanging high are tucked close for the night. We turn our faces to the evening breeze and breathe deeply the dockside smell of tangy salt and sea mingled with the harsh fumes of gasoline and motor oil. Wouldn't it be wonderful, we say, to live our lives like the fishermen, in tune with the ways of the bay, independent and free from the stresses of the city. The reality of course is very different. Fishing is a tough life, and pulling oysters from the oyster bars lining Apalachicola Bay is even tougher. Fishermen are at the mercy of tides, weather and the sometimes mysterious actions of the shrimp, grouper and other marine life they seek. The people who fish the rich waters of the bay understand this. What they sometimes find difficult to accept is the actions of people. Because the water flowing into the bay moves through industrial and developed areas to the north, activities far up the Apalachicola River, sometimes as far as Georgia and Alabama, can affect the quality of the water in the bay, and thus the health of marine life. For the last 20 years, Franklin County has wrestled with how to provide economic development without compromising its productive estuaries and the coastal lands that surround them. The Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve was established in 1979 to support research on the Apalachicola River and Bay estuarine system.

Down by the Sea
People naturally gravitate toward the coast. We like to smell the salt air, feel the wind in our faces, watch the waves break on the sand. But as population pressures mount, communities are having to make some tough decisions about waterside development. What structures really need to be built right on the water? In the final analysis, there are only a few businesses that need direct access to the water. Commonly referred to as water dependent uses, they include ports (both large and small), marinas, public boat ramps, boat servicing and repair facilities, fishing, and fish processing facilities.

The Boating Business
When people move to Florida one of their first purchases is often a boat. About 100 new boats are registered in Florida every day, adding to the more than 715,000 boats already here. That's about one boat for every 15 residents over the age of 18! The recreational marine industry is a $3.5 billion business in Florida. Much of that is in manufacturing of boats, trailers, equipment and accessories. But more that $450 million are from marinas and boat yards. Boating is also a tremendous draw for tourists. Florida's coast supports numerous marinas. Some accommodate a few small boats, others are home to many large yachts and commercial fishing boats. Marina owners and managers are in a unique position to educate boaters about their responsibilities, and to provide important conservation services such as recycling bins and sewage pump-out.

What marinas can do:

Take advantage of the federal Clean Vessel Grant Program administered by the Department of Environmental Protection. The program provides matching grants to marinas to upgrade or install pump-out facilities for boaters.
Provide trash and recycling bins.
Install and maintain a "used oil" drum.
Provide a protected area on land where boats can be cleaned, scraped and repainted.
Provide boaters with up-to-date information about Florida boating regulations produced by sources such as the Coast Guard, Department of Environmental Protection, the Inland Navigation Districts, Florida Sea Grant and the National Estuary Programs.

A cooperative effort between the county, the state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, the reserve conducts research and educates the publicabout the estuary and its protection. For a time, most of the county was designatedan "Area of Critical State Concern" (where the state provides special oversight) in an effort to put special emphasis on the link between land development and resource protection. The people of Apalachicola recognized early on that they had a choice. Either they could plan for growth or someone outside the county would plan it for them. They chose to work out solutions for themselves, and made some important decisions. No large condominiums will appear downtown. Waterfront development is limited to businesses that need access to the water, primarily marinas, fishing businesses and boat repair shops. The small restaurants, boutiques and antique shops filling in the downtown area represent a much-needed boost to the city's economy, economic development that depends on the community's way of life rather than impinging on it. The result is that today Apalachicola remains much as it was at the beginning of the century. If you close your eyes, you can almost see the horse-drawn wagons headed down Commerce Street, piled high with bales of snow-white cotton.

Port of Call - Miami
At the opposite end of the spectrum from the small fishing port of Apalachicola is the international seaport of Miami. Port of Miami is one of 14 deepwater ports in the state that in 1993 handled more than 92 million tons of cargo worth more than $27 billion. As facilitators of trade, Florida's seaports are critical to the state's international trade industry. The ports create jobs—more than 300,000 at last count— and generate state and local taxes. With its convenient location and multicultural community, Miami welcomes trade from as far away as Europe and the Pacific F.im, and as close as Central and South America. Port of Miami specializes in containerized cargo (more than 5.8 million tons in 1993) and the cruise trade. Five million cruise passengers are expected to pass through Miami's port each year by 1998. Deepwater ports are an important part of the state's multi-faceted coastline. Planning for their continued growth is critical, and part of the state's comprehensive planning effort during the past 10 years has been the incorporation of port planning into community planning.

A Platform to Stand On
The search for new sources of oil and gas has led some companies to the shallow waters of Florida's Gulf coast and as far south as the Keys. So far, state officials have managed to keep drilling out of Florida's waters. Still, oil tankers navigate in and out of the deepwater ports and through the waters of the Keys. Many see offshore drilling as a way for America to become more energy independent. But the specter of an oil spill off the beaches of the Panhandle—or worse, Key Largo— has led state officials to stand firm against risky drilling until they are assured that the benefits from oil production exceed the potential for negative impacts to the environment.

What you can do:
Support the stand taken by government officials opposing unsafe offshore drilling along the Florida coast. Support stricter regulation of tankers transporting oil in Florida waters. Tankers should use the best nautical charts they can, and everyone should advocate for the production of better charts.