The tiny town of Everglades city encompasses less than 2 square miles - but the economic engine of the town, depends on what happens about 50 miles out in the ocean. So when the local stone crab crew dock their boats for the community-wide Blessing of the Fleet.- everybody shows up for the party.
Pastor Bob Wallace says without the crabbers the community would be in trouble.
"A lot of these crabber have not been unemployed now for several months It’s kind of a hand to mouth existence out of season but if we have a good crabbing season everybody prospers from it", said Wallace .
The past two years have been bad. Everyone agrees its part of mother nature’s cycle. Kit Johnson can’t believe he’s been crabbing for 40 years. He hopes this won’t be his last.“Another year like we had last year and there will be a lot of boats for sale. We’ll be out", Johnson said. "We’ll be out of business.”
Last year, the season was off by 26% statewide. It’s all part of downward trend that is normal for the stone crab cycle. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission will be share their own monitored catch rate for first two weeks of Oct. This is a good indicator for how the rest of the season will go.
But for now, the crabbers say they will rely on prayers and blessings from Mother Nature.