Welcome to

Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage

The F.I.S.H. Mission:

Because of its strong linkage of Community/Place/Occupation the residents of the historic Cortez fishing village have a long memory and a world view that is ecologically centered on the water that surrounds them. As a smart fisherman will keep a weather eye on clouds on the distant horizon, the community pulled together when large scale waterfront development loomed. In 1991 they combined a cultural organization, the Cortez Village Historical Society (CVHS), and a commercial fishing organization, the Organized Fisherman of Florida (O.F.F.) and became an activist organization, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (F.I.S.H.).

The grass roots not for profit was established and received its IRS 501(c) (3) status in May of that year with a mission statement that commits it to preserving the character and heritage of Florida's traditional waterfront communities within the natural environment that has nurtured people in fishing communities for thousands of years.

The unique folkways of traditional Gulf Coast communities are under a great deal of pressure from such diverse forces as foreign markets, environmental legislation, and changes in land use that follow a disturbing pattern. Residential developers, the recreational fishing industry and promoters of tourism all seek the waterfront for purposes that are often hostile to the life-ways of Florida's traditional working waterfronts.

Few of Florida's traditional fishing villages have been able to retain their cultural integrity. Often succumbing to developers, high fuel bills and high property taxes, undisturbed natural habitat, fish houses, boatyards, marinas and other forms of public access that have coexisted for a hundred years and more are disappearing. The practice of re-evaluating waterfront land for the 'highest and best use' higher tax base have left most waterborn businesses with little choice but to sell the property for new high dollar Condos or other forms of intense development, regardless of lost jobs and a negatively impacted qualityof life.

Cortez has endured and survives as an historical record of Florida's frontier history and an important link to the past with its unique quality of life. Cortez has remained a fishing community in that fourth and fifth generations of fisher-folk still work and live in the historic village. Many homes, fish houses, docks and the waterfront are still occupied by those pioneering families who settled Cortez and stand as a meaningful record of that early history.

With an enlightened purpose that should be a model for all communities; hard work, community spirit and people working together have resulted in a series of major preservation accomplishments for F.I.S.H. and Cortez:

1. Early in 1991 the Florida Division of Historical Resources provided funds to complete the Cortez Village Historic Site Survey and draft a National Register District Nomination for the village. Upon completion the Village became a registered historic community on the State and Federal lists of Historic places. An historic overlay district, meant to protect the unique historic structures that make up most of the Village, was also established and is now part of Manatee County's land use codes.
2. Late in 1991 FISH received funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and produced a feasibility study for locating a maritime museum in Cortez. To preserve the maritime material culture of traditional Gulf Coast communities the group formed a successful partnership with Manatee County Government and Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Courts, R. "Chips" Shore, to purchase the 1912 Cortez School house.
   
   The Cortez School house Preserve was purchased in part by a grant from Florida Community Trust "Florida Forever" funds. The building was renovated using funds raised by F.I.S.H., the Florida Department of State, Department of Historic Resources Special Category grant, CVHS, Manatee County Board of County Commissioners, Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Courts, and a private donation from Peter and Eva Thurell's Item Co. (ltd). The newly renovated building has been occupied with the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez, now managed by a full time paid staff of three and finally opened in 2006.

To preserve the natural habitat upon which the commercial fishing industry depends an extremely ambitious undertaking for such a small community was successfully concluded when the group made its last payment on the Schewe property. Encompassing over 100 acres of environmentally sensitive land immediately east of Cortez, for hundreds of years this site has survived as an important fisheries habitat for the section of Sarasota Bay south of Cortez fondly referred to as "the kitchen." It was here the locals could find a bounty of fresh seafood to feed their families and trade with their farmer neighbors when times were economically lean. Sold in the 50s and long slated for development, in later decades the property, sadly, was also used as a dumping site for construction debris.

A very successful financial plan for the first phase:
Funds for the first $60,000 mortgage payment on the land were raised from donations made by ordinary citizens and conservation minded companies. A succession of annual Cortez Commercial Fishing Festivals (www.Fishfestival.org), traditionally held in February of each year, and donations from our more than 300 members and a host of friends all over the country enabled F.I.S.H. to pay off the mortgage in 2005. No Federal or State funds were used in the effort. With such a strong financial base and the anticipated community support, the project goal became a reality

F.I.S.H. is still working to raise funds for the purchase of several parcels within the Preserve's boundaries that remain in private hands. At least four small parcels remain to be purchased. In the image to the right the shaded areas remained in private hands when the larger Schewe property was purchased. Since 2005 the properties labeled 'Wilkerson', 'Kirsch' and 'Middendorf' have been added to the Preserve. The other shaded areas that appear to be paths are rights of way that have been "vacated".

Part of the ongoing success this past year has been that we were able to take out a mortgage to purchase the only residence within the Preserve's boundaries. Built in the 1950s the building needs a lot of work so that it can be opened as a base for a local Wildlife Rehabilitation center. While the building is stable funds are badly needed to move this project along.

Putting it Back
Now, officially called the F.I.S.H. Preserve an extensive habitat restoration program has been partially funded by Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, The Ocean Trust, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the West Coast Inland Navigation District and many friends who have dug into their own pockets. When it is complete the Preserve will be a healed link in an environmental chain with other Sarasota Bay ecologically sensitive areas that have been preserved by programs of the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program and other groups. It will help to protect local marine life, provide an open, green, cultural buffer between the village and encroaching development, and provide one more place where mankind can't point and say "We did the right thing here.

In addition, through its many projects and association with Waterfronts Florida, Florida Communities Trust, and Florida Humanities Council, FISH is forming a multi-staged plan to address waterfront redevelopment issues for coastal communities. With its continued success, FISH is providing not only educational opportunities for Central Southwest Florida, including academic institutions, but also offers a community service to Cortez and Manatee County that will have significance for other coastal communities in Florida.

The 1890 Burton Store
In a last ditch effort to save the building from demolition F.I.S.H. and CVHS 13 years ago acquired the Burton Store, the first commercial building erected by pioneer settlers in the Village of Cortez. In 1890 the building served as a store, post office, community gathering place, and dock connecting the isolated fishing families with the outside world. On Oct. 18th., and funded in part by a grant from the William G. Selby and Marie Selby Foundation of Sarasota, Florida the building is to be moved to its new foundation next to the 1912 Cortez School house for a complete renovation. Additional funding provided by Manatee County Board of County Commissioners and the Manatee County Planning Department through a Community Development Block Grant will be used to begin stabilization of the historic building. Other funds will be required to complete the renovation, however.

From the Burton Store's completed classroom and fully restored front porch trails and raised walkways with interpretive signage at strategic stations will extend across a foot bridge and out like a fisherman's net into the full array of coastal habitat included within the adjacent Preserve's boundaries. Programs will take place in the building's classroom and small research library that enlighten visitors thoroughly about the chain of environmental and cultural events that must take place between the coastal hammock and uplands, through critical wetlands and tidal streams, into our shallow bays and estuaries, through inlets out to the gulf and, finally, back in the form of seafood on our tables. This all inclusive life cycle is to be presented in hopes that a now enlightened audience will appreciate the value of coastal habitat and the commercial fisherman who form the symbiotic relationship that has sustained and nourished us for hundreds of years.

This great potential success story has not yet reached its happy conclusion and we are looking for friends who want to help write the final chapter. Make that happy ending complete and make this grassroots success a part of your life's story. There are four additional small parcels of land within the boundaries that remain to be bought. The Burton Store needs funds to complete its restoration/renovation. We are seeking grant opportunities and assistance in funding for all of these projects, and more. Volunteers are needed to help educate the public and promote the project, as well as to clear and clean up the property.

Donations are accepted in any amount. Every dollar helps. Checks should be made payable to: The FISH Preserve and can be mailed to:

FISH Inc.
Post Office Box 606
Cortez, FL 34215.