Why is it important to save Judah’s fish market in Sebastian? The town’s history tells the story.
The Sebastian Inlet opens out to the Atlantic ocean. The influx of tidal water flushes the river with every tide. It regulates the salinity which is offset by the fresh water which empties down from the Sebastian River, especially after a heavy rain. It provides an avenue for the river fish to spawn in the deep ocean waters.
The health of the river is measured by the fish population, the mullet, the trout, the jacks, the snook, all of them. If the fish population is thriving the river is in balance. The local fishermen have an acute awareness of the health of the river, specifically the state of the river bottom, the temperature fluctuations, the accumulation of dead grasses, the preponderance of fresh water, the areas of pollution, and areas of flow or stagnation.
If we lose Judah’s we not only lose the marketplace, but also the place where all of this information is traded on a daily basis. anyone concerned with the health of the river should be concerned with the preservation of the marketplace for the fishermen.
We are on the verge of losing this vital link to the river that Judah’s Fish Market has provided for the past 70 years. We need to muster awareness and do what we can as a community to preserve this legacy and show our support and appreciation for the important role they play in preserving Sebastian as the fishing village it has always been. Loss of Judah’s constitutes an epic change in the dynamic of this towns relationship with the river. It is a sad situation, because they have the will to prevail, but are being forced to close.
When we lose the fisherman’s daily monitoring, born out of economic necessity, and enter a much less potent phase of intellectual conjecture derived from broad based scientific data. This dumbing down of our knowledge base can only diminish our ability to save the river.
Geoffrey Myers
Sebastian, FL
