Lee Co. may rebuild Ian-damaged site once...

SAN CARLOS ISLAND, Fla — The San Carlos Maritime Park was once a thriving hub for Florida's shrimping industry, until it was shattered by Hurricane Ian.

Now, Lee County could take a big step toward bringing it back, and Fox 4’s Fort Myers Community Correspondent, Austin Schargorodski, met with the family who once ran this spot to find out what revitalizing it would mean.
Watch to hear from the family about this history of this spot, and the impact the revitalization could have:

A row of pylons in Matanzas Pass is all that’s left of the Trico Shrimp Company. Dana Gala, a fifth-generation shrimper, says her family caught, processed, and sold shrimp from this location since 1978.

“Trico Shrimp Company was the largest shrimping fleet in all of Florida,” said Gala.

Now, the empty parking lot is a quiet reminder of the day Hurricane Ian changed everything.

“So sad. Like it hurts my heart. It was my home, it was my summer camp, it was work. It had been through all stages of life with me and now it’s gone,” Gala said.

Rear of damaged Trico Shrimp Co. after Hurricane Ian

However, the county says it will consider spending $1.2 million to contract the design of a new park, one with rebuilt docks, mooring points, a stronger sea wall, and an expanded official-use boat ramp. Gala says it would mean so much to the shrimping community.

“Obviously we’re grateful for anything. If they’re just going to put a dock up for us we’re grateful, but if we’re able to get an unloading facility that would be phenomenal. I don’t think the public realizes how much that would help the seafood industry here,” she said.

That’s because right now, Gala says she pays another company $1,000 a month just to park her boats, plus extra to unload shrimp - a cost they never had when Trico had its own dock. Add in competition from cheaper, imported shrimp, and Gala says the struggle to stay afloat here only grows.

Thankfully, she says they’ve reopened up the road as Big Daddy’s Shrimp Company, but they’d love to return home.

“This would just be another stepping stone in helping the whole shrimping community in all of the United States,” Gala said.

Lee County commissioners will vote on the design contract Tuesday. If approved, the county says planning and permitting will begin immediately.