FISHING
GIVING THANKS FOR
Lagoon’s Cornucopia
BY CAPT. JACK JACKSON ILLUSTRATION BY ANTHONY BRATINA
As the holiday season approaches. Treasure Coast
residents can be thankful for many things. Family,
friends, and food generally top the list of seasonal
gratitude. But the natural resources of the Indian River
Lagoon should also be high on the list. We are blessed with
living along the most diverse estuary in North America.
Because of its position between a temperate and subtropical
zone, the lagoon is a
cornucopia of nearly 400
species of fish and
nearly 1,000
species of
wildlife.
This is an
incredible
wealth for
such a narrow
and
shallow
band of
water that
has no
singular
headwater or
tail water and
flows in
different directions,
depending
on winds and tides.
At 158 miles in
length, it ranks as the
longest natural estuary
in North America, yet
averages less than 3 feet in
depth. In 1990, the Environmental
Protection Agency named this beautiful
body of water one of national significance initiating closer
local and national awareness of its protection.
Florida waters have provided sustenance and pleasure for
generations of man, beginning 10,000 years ago with first
inhabitants being Paleoindians. It is believed that there was
such an abundance of food in present day Florida that
between 100,000 to perhaps more than 300,000 people were
thriving here when Columbus discovered the New World.
When Spanish conquistador Pedro Menendez de Aviles
waded ashore near the upper region of the lagoon, he was
amazed to find the Timucuan, a healthy, strapping people,
some of whom reached heights of nearly 7 feet tall. The size
of this indigenous group and the large ancient shell mounds
(middens) that thickly dotted our lagoon indicate early
hunter-gatherer populations enjoyed a continuous source of
high protein. In stark contrast, it was the Ais tribe that met
Jonathan Dickinson near Hobe Sound in the late 1600s.
Dickinson found this small in stature, indigenous people in
poor health due to near starvation. Storm-wrecked himself,
he realized that the same storms had ruined the native food
stocks, and the normally productive lagoon
could not supply the usual protein-rich
meals of oysters, clams, and fish. The
lagoon’s horn-of-plenty was
temporarily empty for the
Ais, but was quickly
refilled for future
Florida progeny.
Catastrophic natural
events have
disastrous results
on the lagoon.
But the effect of
being roughed
up by Mother
Nature is
temporary at
best. Unfortunately,
today
the lagoon also
finds itself stressed
from man-made events
that are not so easily
reversed. Close to 1 million
people now live and enjoy
recreation along the lagoon in the
same space that supported a mere few
thousand natives. With compaction of that
magnitude, one would expect an almost complete
collapse of the lagoon’s ecosystem. But even with the modern
day pressures, this glass of marine life is still more than
half full rather than half empty. Individuals and groups from
both the private and government sectors are working to
guard against further degradation as well as the reestablishment
of lost vital aquatic systems such as sea grass and
mangrove communities.
Centuries ago, the Indian River Lagoon provided nourishment
to the indigenous people living along its shores. Today,
the lagoon provides food for the souls of fishermen and
naturalists that drift her waters. Tomorrow, well, it might just
be another day in paradise.
Be thankful.
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