CORTEZ – After a six-year legal battle between Raymond “Junior” Guthrie and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the net camp he built in 2017 in Sarasota Bay is being dismantled.
FDEP filed a civil suit against Guthrie in 2018 claiming that he had constructed an enclosed docking structure over sovereign submerged lands in Sarasota Bay without a permit.
The FDEP prevailed and on May 7, 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas ordered the structure to be removed in 120 days, making the deadline Sept. 4.
Guthrie maintained that his family had a net camp in that location since his grandfather built one in the 1940s.
In 2017, Guthrie rebuilt the structure “after it had been damaged by a hurricane, using the same pilings and stringers as existed at the time,” according to Manatee County court statements submitted by Guthrie in 2018.
The lone remaining net camp off Cortez – much older than Guthrie’s – is being renovated by the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH).
Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fish Co., and a strong supporter of the net camp, expressed disappointment at the removal of the building.
“I just think it’s a shame that DEP or FL didn’t see the significance to this village of these two remaining net camps,” Bell wrote in a text to The Sun. “They represent how fishermen worked in the past and tell the story of how Cortez was settled by North Carolina fishermen so long ago.”
The FDEP did not respond to a request for comment.
