October 7, 2022 — Casey Streeter lost everything to the monstrous winds and storm surge of Hurricane Ian when it roared over southwest Florida.
His Island Seafood Market in Matlacha? Gone. Home in St. James City on Pine Island? Gone. Retail market on Sanibel Island? Gone. It’s pretty much the same for most of his commercial fishing colleagues and neighbors in the region.
“We are devastated here,” Streeter said. “Four out of five fish houses in Pine Island are gone. The shrimp fleet is gone. Nowhere to unload. No docks are here. Everybody went out of business at one time. We worked ten years and it was gone in ten hours. We’re dealing with impossible things.”
Despite his overwhelming losses, though, Streeter vows he’s not giving up on the commercial fishing industry here. He’s got four grouper boats that got tossed around that he’s hoping he can fix, and a seafood truck he’s been using to ferry food, ice, and other supplies from the mainland to Pine Island, now that a temporary bridge has been erected.
“We’re gonna build back, “ Streeter declared. “This is the next chapter of our island. It’s important for our area to have a fishery. It’ll be the people here that bring it back. We’re not going to let this go away.”