Marine Patrol Memories of “Old Florida”

By: Bob Puchucki

I rode down Highway 98 to Apalachicola today, reminiscing about all the changes. A drive through Panacea used to mean seeing net boats gassing up to go out fishing, their gill nets piled high on the stern. I remember when oyster boats crowded the waters of Eastpoint, piles of oyster shells giving the town its own fragrance and oyster men walking around wearing white boots or as they were called “Eastpoint Nikes.” Fish houses and shrimp boats lined the docks in Carrabelle and party boats took fishermen out to the middle grounds. Blue Crab traps lined the waters. Shrimp boats streamed out of the Apalachicola River to the Cut for a night of fishing, with the seagulls following every net that was pulled aboard and dumped, and screaming for their dinner. At night, it looked like a city lit by the deck and running lights of the shrimp boats. Shrimpers passed the time talking on their cb’s and cussing the Marine Patrol. Going over to St. George Island, one could see the oyster boats with men tonging oysters while their wives culled the catch. Today the oyster men are gone and replaced by cultured oyster farms and the shrimp boats are few; as well as the blue crabbers. More regulations and the “Net Ban” have seen the demise of the commercial fishermen of old. There are still some proud fishing families around but many of their children have left the water to make a different living; not by choice but out of necessity. Those of us who were fortunate enough to work for the Marine Patrol were able to be part of a proud heritage that sought to preserve a way of life for the resources and the fishers. We were the lucky ones.