Ostego Bay to be featured on ‘Raw Travel’
The Ostego Bay Marine Center is well known among Fort Myers Beach locals and it’s set to get a lot broader exposure.
Joanne Semmer, president of the foundation, took the film crew of Raw Travel on a very personal tour of the area, including hidden state parks and the Trico Shrimp Company.
“There’s so much to love, both in nature and in the way we’ve grown this city out of the region. Some families have been fishing and shrimping out here for generations, and we want to make sure everyone gets their time to shine,” Semmer said.
She started with a history lesson of San Carlos Island, built on pink shrimp — a local and renowned delicacy — and how the villages on the island grew up around that industry offering goods, services, net repairs, boat repairs, and any number of other conveniences around the craft.
The ecosystem is a driving concern, so issues include living with the local wildlife — especially with encroaching on habitats — and overfishing.
Luckily, overfishing is almost impossible to do with the pink shrimp, as they reproduce faster than shrimp boats can physically reduce the numbers, which makes it an incredibly important renewable resource down here.
The Trico Shrimp Company, for example, has been in business for five generations, illustrated by the range of ages among the employees.
A good haul is considered to be anywhere from 18,000 to 20,000 pounds of shrimp, on outings that are upwards of 20 days.
The pink shrimp, in particular, is considered a delicacy, having its own flavor and texture that is very unique to the Fort Myers open waterways.
“You won’t find a seafood place down here that doesn’t sell it in some fashion,” Semmer said.
Semmer reminds us, both in the tour and on camera, that these ecosystems are always in danger of a variety of things including commercialization, larger corporate entities buying out waterfront docks for housing, or even for waterfront restaurant properties.
Raw Travel is a “show incorporates eco-tourism, adventure sports, volun-tourism (giving back), indie music, authentic culture and more,” according to its website, rawtravel.tv .
A viewing date has not been set.