CORTEZ – A civil suit filed in 2018 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) against Raymond Guthrie, Jr. over his net camp building in Sarasota Bay has been dismissed.
Net camps were wooden shacks used by fishermen to hang hemp and cotton fishing nets to dry. According to historic photographs, there were dozens of net camps on the bay off Cortez.
“Net camps are small simple structures and provide space to store nets and other fishing gear,” according to the Florida Maritime Museum.
In a motion initiated by 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas on Feb. 23, parties were notified that since no filings in the case had been made in more than 12 months, the case would be dismissed if no stay is issued or approved prior to the expiration of a 60-day period.
On May 4, Nicholas signed a Motion and Notice/Order of Dismissal.
Listed as lawyer for the plaintiff (DEP), Bradenton-based Attorney Robert C. Schermer, declined to comment on the dismissal via email on May 13.
DEP did not respond to a request for comment.
The civil case was filed Feb. 6, 2018, to have Guthrie remove the 1,200 square-foot structure.
The DEP complaint claimed Guthrie built the structure without permission on sovereign state submerged lands. Guthrie contended that his family previously had a net camp in that spot and the structure was protected under the 1921 Butler Act.
In May of 2018, A.P. Bell Fish Co., north of the structure, filed suit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) asserting its ownership of both the net camp and the submerged lands.
Bell claimed the structure has existed since at least the early 1900s and, with the submerged lands, is protected by the Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands. The law was repealed in 1957 but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.
Guthrie was widely supported by Cortez residents and legislators, many of whom recalled net camps along the coast in years past.
The Manatee County Commission voted in March 2018 to support Guthrie’s effort to keep the structure standing.
“Given historic photos documenting the presence of multiple net camp structures, the reconstruction of this single structure to recapture the essence of the historic Cortez fishing community should be supported with the appropriate state permits,” the commission wrote to Florida DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein.
An April 15, 2021 letter from the Manatee County Board of Commissioners to Valenstein and signed by chairperson Vanessa Baugh, stated in part “The net camp has played an inseparable part of the gill and stop net fisheries with the historical village and is referenced in the National Register of Historic Places. Preservation of this structure will help preserve the essence of the Cortez fishing community and the understanding of the cultural context of the village.”
