Following this incident where the Marine Patrol refused to rescue two
men and left them to die, the marine Patrol found themselves unwelcome
in several communities such as Panacea and St. Marks. On two occasions
they found their boat trailers tires slashed and were even fired on
once when they launched at Panacea.
Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed over time as the commercial
fishermen found that the waterfornt property that had been in their
familes for generations and was thought to be just worthless salt marsh
escalated in value from roughly $30,000.acre along the New River in
Carabelle to over $500,000/acre. The property was mostly being sold to
transplants from South Florida and various northern hell holes. Many
of the buyers being the "Sport Fishermen". Unfortunately, there isnt a
happy ending. These buyers then filled the salt marshes that produced
all the food for the game fish thus reducing the "sport fish"
population. Even worse, these rich transplants built docks for their
expensive boats and put up illegal fences to keep the locals from the
waterfront that is legally public property. But, you know money talks
so the poor locals who did not have waterfront property to sell can now
no longer even fish from the shore that was supposed to be public.