WHAT HAPPENS AFTER STILTSVILLE IS GONE? EXPERTS DISAGREE ON WHETHER FISHING WILL IMPROVE OR SUFFER

Sunday, April 4, 1999
By SUSAN COCKING, Herald Outdoors Writer

Biscayne Bay's fishing community has mixed reactions to the planned removal of the seven remaining houses of Stiltsville. Some say taking down the structures will hurt fishing; others say it will help.

Stiltsville's 25-year bay-bottom lease expires in July, and the National Park Service is prepared to demolish the buildings. Biscayne National Park's assistant superintendent, Monika Mayr, said "unnatural material'' is not appropriate in anational park.

"Removing the structures would preserve the natural environment that's there,'' Mayr said.

But the removal would eliminate feeding stations for fish, according to Biscayne Bay fishing guide Bob Branham.

"I take my kids fishing around those stilt houses,'' Branham said. "They catch jacks, snappers and barracudas.''

Bonefish, an important part of Branham's business, would not be affected because they are not often found around the houses, he said. Permit, another key gamefish, would have to find new homes.

"Permit are structure-oriented. They'll hang around pilings to get out of the current,'' Branham said. "There are certain houses that have permit on certain tides. They'll be gone. They'll find different places to live.''

Added captain Greg Poland: "It'll definitely hurt the fishing. Those structures house bait, and the bait brings the other fish. It's all going to change the bottom and how the current goes through and how the fish feed.''

Captain Bill Curtis, a Biscayne Bay fishing guide since 1948, believes fishing might improve with the removal of the lodges, most of which were built after 1960.

"I wouldn't be sorry myself to see them go because they weren't there in the first place,'' said Curtis, 74. "I think the flats fishing will be better because there'll be less boat traffic once they're gone.''

Captain Ken Collette says if the houses must go, then their remnants should be used as artificial reefs in the bay.

"I would like to see them take them down and pile them in the channels adjacent to where they are,'' Collette said. "Some of those channels are 20 feet deep. They could lay them on the bottom so there's six feet of relief. The snook and permit and snappers would increase.''

Collette's suggestion is not likely to happen; a couple of years back, the park removed many sunken structures from its waters.

Bob Horne is a member of the Miami Springs Powerboat Club, which leases a two-story yellow and blue lodge in the southwest corner of Stiltsville. Horne says removing the houses could pose a hazard to navigation for South Florida's many inexperienced boaters.

"People have learned to use those houses as landmarks,'' Horne said. "People won't have a clue how to get around - that brown [water] is shallow and that green is deep.''

Horne also laments not being able to take kids on barbecues at the lodge. "We do a lot of things with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. It's like a little community thing,'' he said.

Branham wonders where he'll find shelter from sudden thunderstorms, once Stiltsville is gone. Said the guide: "When there's lightning, we seek refuge under those houses. I've squeaked in just in the nick of time.''