Most of you received a survey from me on the evening of June 24th requesting that you let me know if you had changed your plans to vacation and/or fish here in southwest Florida since the BP disaster in the gulf. I have been shocked and saddened at the huge number of responses indicating plans were indeed changed to vacation/fish somewhere else than the west coast of Florida.

I understand that folks want to protect their deposits, and want to come to a clean southwest Florida, but to make all these changes based upon reports from the national media seems misguided, at best. To quote a local fishing guide friend of mine, “No oil—No spoil---Our Beaches are Clean—Our Waters Pristine”!

Florida is a long state. From the tip of the peninsula to the tip of the panhandle it is as long as Texas is wide. That's a lot of shoreline. Please go to Ocean Circulation Group and take a look at the animated Deepwater Horizon oil spill trajectory ensemble forecast from the University of South Florida. It's very interesting, and helps put into perspective the distances involved, and the magnitude of the probable overreaction to this threat.

No. I'm not saying the oil won't someday show up on our shores. Only God knows that! But, whether it does or not at this point, is moot. The damage to the economy of coastal Florida has been done. Local businesses along the coast saw a 50%, and in some cases greater decline in business on what should have been the busiest weekend of the summer.

Many vacation rentals are now sitting all but empty through the end of this year. My schedule is all but empty. The catastrophe off Louisiana has become a catastrophe for all the Gulf States!