CORTEZ, Fla. — After being sidelined for more than a month following back-to-back hurricanes, the commercial fisherman in the historic Village of Cortez is back out hunting for grouper, blue crabs, bait fish, and everything in between.
It was only a few days ago that Karen Bell, President of A.P. Bell Fish, said her team was able to go back out to sea and do what they love: fish. And the timing for some very bored fisherman couldn't have been better.
"All the grouper boats are out. They've only been out the last three or four days," Bell said.
"How did that feel seeing them go out?" ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska asked.
"Good! Like, go," Bell said with a laugh. "Anything back to normal was helpful, you know. But, there's too many people, I can't say whining, but a little whiny, you know. And I'm like, I don't want to hear it. Go fishing. Just go fishing."
"Go fishing and start making your money back," Paluska said.
"Yeah, of course, that's what we do," Bell said proudly.
The storms knocked Bell's operations out for weeks.
"A lot of damage. You know, I've got between my family and me, maybe 20 houses here, every one of them flooded, even mine, which sits high," Bell said. "A.P. Bell's roof is missing. It was like a double strike. At Star Fish, we lost all of our refrigeration equipment, the kitchens, the stoves, the ranges, and all the refrigeration stuff, so it took a little bit of time to get fixed."
The Star Fish Company seafood restaurant is back up and fully operational, to the delight of tourists.
Fishing charters are also getting back up and running.
"It's been tough," Lance Plowman, the owner and operator of the Florida Fishing Fleet, told Paluska.
We caught up with Plowman in Cortez as he fixed up his boat.
"You got to deal with the houses first, and then you got to deal with the boats and just getting everything prepared, and after the storm," Plowman said. "Lost the house too. My crew lost his house. He lives here in the village. I live up the river a little bit."
Plowman said the flooding and damage won't deter his love of the water and the Village of Cortez.
"Cortez, they're the most resilient people anywhere in southwest Florida; in my opinion, I get choked up saying that," Plowman said. "The best way to support us is to buy fresh, local seafood and go charter fishing."
Cortez is oneof the last remaining working waterfronts in Old Florida. Commercial fisherman Alexis Meschelle told Paluska it's a constant battle to keep the industry alive, even before the devastating storms.
"A lot of it is working waterfront, but that was an issue before the storms, right? So we see a lot of people who are unable to keep up that working waterfront. So post Ian, I know that was huge," Meschelle said. "We see an increase of commercial boats not being able to be at marinas anymore. When people get overwhelmed, they might be older. So we call it the 'graying of the fleet.' And people are getting older, and after a storm, they might just sell out."
Meschelle is also the Executive Director for the Organized Fishermen of Florida.
She said her husband Nathan is finally back out catching bait fish, but coming back will be slow.
"We put our traps out post-storms. So we're seeing a slower market this year, both between, you know, people are just now getting into the market and pulling their traps," Meschelle said.
"Why do you do it?" Paluska asked.
"Why do we do it?" Meschelle said without hesitation. "How do you not? We love it. We love to be on the water. We love to serve people good food."
"You're optimistic even after these storms?" Paluska continued.
"Yeah, I am, you know, it's hard not to see a lot of the negatives, which was being stressed out about where we docked our boat for a couple of weeks while we were getting those things put back together, where we're gonna drop our traps, because there's debris in the water, and so, you know, there are those types of issues, of course, but I believe that we are a very resilient community."
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