EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine November 2017 | Page 14

COVER STORY
The
Our Most Valuable Resource
I
by Jacqueline Bodnar
t’s difficult to think of Volusia County without an image of
the ocean coming to one’s mind. Our 47 miles of beaches not
only steal the hearts of many tourists each year, but also of
the over half-million people who call the county home. While we
may enjoy plopping a chair on the ground, staring at the waves,
and feeling our troubles fade away, there’s a lot more at stake
here than what meets the eye. Our local ocean plays a major role
in the local economy, making it imperative that we prioritize its
protection for the health of the county.
“Tourism is the largest contributor to the Volusia County
economy,” says Rob Ehrhardt, the economic development
director for Volusia County, “driven largely by our proximity to
the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Johns River, and by a consistent
commitment to protecting and preserving our environment.”
In recent years, the county is has seen record numbers of
tourists. There are over 9 million who visit the county each year,
and it takes a lot of local employees to help provide them with a
good experience. According to NOAA, just over 9 percent of all
jobs in Volusia County are considered ocean jobs, with roughly
90% of them tied to tourism. Collectively, this adds up to over
14,000 people who are employed locally in ocean jobs, totaling
$288 million in annual wages, and some $578 million in yearly
goods and services.
“Sustainability of these natural resources is critical to the
future of our community as a great place to live, learn, work, and
play,” adds Ehrhardt.
Each year, over 2 million pounds of seafood are commercially
caught in Volusia County waters, with a value of over $4 million,
according to the Florida Department of Agriculture. If there’s one
industry that knows all too well the economic importance of our
ocean it is fishing. Born and raised in Volusia County, Captain
Jimmy Hull, owner of Hull’s Seafood in Ormond Beach, FL,
has been relying on fishing for a living since he was a teenager.
Today, at 62, he’s taken a love of fishing and steadily grown it
into an enterprise that operates four commercial fishing vessels, a
seafood market, and a seafood restaurant.
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Over the decades that Hull has been fishing
the local waters, he has seen the abundance
of fishery stock rise and fall due to egg
recruitment success, environmental
factors, and fishing pressure. Today,
all the South Atlantic fish stock,
both inshore and offshore, is
under sustainable fishery
management plans to help
ensure a plentiful future.
“The demand for
fresh local seafood is
increasing with the
growing population,”
he says. “My story is
repeated north and south
in communities on the
Florida coastline. I believe
the future is bright if we
can keep our waters clean
and preserve the marshes
and wetlands, which
are vital to seafood
production.”
One important
tool that has helped
Hull to successfully
fish the same waters
for 45 years and still
get good catches is the
county’s artificial reefs.
A program started in
the 1970s, it has helped
create and sustain a robust
local fishing industry.
“Commercial fishermen
needed more structures to attract the
fish,” explains Tom Kinsey, president of
the Volusia County Reef Research Dive Team,
an independent nonprofit organization that has