A Pioneer Son at Sea: Fishing Tales of Old Florida

Long before tourism dominated Florida’s coastline, the state was home to dozens of commercial fisheries and ethnically diverse communities of rugged individuals who made their living from the sea.

In A Pioneer Son at Sea, a celebrated marine biologist vividly recounts his early experiences fishing both coasts of the peninsula during the Great Depression and World War II. Here are vanished scenes from old Florida: gill-netting for mackerel off Jupiter, the early days of charterboat fishing for sailfish out of Stuart and Boynton, the snapper fleet at Carrabelle, sponge-diving at Tarpon Springs, the oyster fishery at Crystal River, and mullet fishing from airboats at Flamingo.

Outsized personalities inhabit these pages-crackers, conchs, now-legendary charterboatmen, Greek spongers, and Cuban vivero captains. These portraits of a bygone era are also remarkable tales of formative chapters in the life of a scientist who later worked tirelessly to preserve our dwindling marine resources.