Graham Segger
On February 2, 2022 PGHC posted an article containing a series of aerial photos of the configuration of the Protein Products Corporation fish meal processing plant, located on the land now occupied by the Burnt Store Marina basins. Following, as Paul Harvey might once have said, is the rest of the story. It is unlikely that there can be a sadder example of a commercial enterprise gone wrong than this case study. Over the five short years of its existence, Protein Products Corporation or its suppliers faced criminal charges alleging improper fishing techniques; were the source of a damaging environmental spill into Charlotte Harbor; were at the heart of a tragic industrial accident which caused the death of five employees and the closing of the operation for 15 months; were the impetus for a Florida legislative purse seine fishing ban within five miles of the coast in Lee County; experienced a decline in the availability of the very fish they relied on; lost a great deal of money; and finally faced a bankruptcy procedure and foreclosure auction. Protein Products Corporation did, however, leave one lasting legacy which I, for one, am most appreciative of. They, and their contractors, were the companies who first dredged the Burnt Store Marina channel to the 12 foot deep water mark, and created the spoil islands on the sand bars at the entrance to the harbor. It is very possible that Punta Gorda Isles, Inc. might not have been as interested in, or been allowed to, register the plat for the Burnt Store Marina community in 1973 if many of the regulatory and dredging hurdles of gaining access to Charlotte Harbor had not already been partly cleared.
The Business Plan and Approvals
On April 18, 1966 Lee County Zoning Board approved a plan to establish a fish meal processing plant on the shores of Charlotte Harbor just south of the Charlotte County line and just off Burnt Store Road. This plan had been approved or endorsed by the County Planning Board, the Chamber of Commerce and the Committee of 100. The proponents made many optimistic promises, which included constructing five buildings (an office building, factory, cooling and grinding facility, warehouse, and net storage & chandlery house). The factory and incinerator would have 50 foot stacks. There would be a 200 foot dock and seawalls at the harbor, in addition to the dredged channel to deep water. They projected a capital expenditure of $500,000; annual revenues of $1.5 million; local economy spending of $1.0 million per year; and employment of 20 staff and 40 fishermen. The company pledged itself to be “a good industrial neighbor” and claimed that “conservation is our life blood”. They cited several successful operations in N.J. and Massachusetts, and committed that there would be no water discharges into the harbor. The owners were R.T. Angster and D.A. Vincent of Tampa; Production Manager was to be David Kalashian; and Secretary-Treasurer / Sales & Office Manager was Charles B. Davies.
The proposal had not been without opposition. Fish broker Leon Kenney of Pinellas Seafood in St. Petersburg was a vocal opponent citing evidence that similar operations in Mexico had been unsuccessful and had diminished the local food fish stock. Jesse Padilla of Pine Island, a local leader in the fishing industry, provided the following prophetic statement to the local press at the time “I think we are going to wish we had never heard of a fish meal plant”. The U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries supported the business plan. The company proceeded to purchase 76 acres for $50,000 from Mr. & Mrs. Richard M. McConnell, and obtained rights of way to Burnt Store Road. The land included 400 feet of Charlotte Harbor waterfront.
Image 1 – Protein Products Corporation fish meal processing plant
The actual operation involved obtaining, through the fishing efforts of large purse seine trawlers, tons of small inedible fish, typically Menhaden and Thread Herring (aka hairy-backs). These “trash fish” would then be processed into fish meal and solubles to be used as animal feed and fish oil for export. End use included additives for poultry feed and raw material for margarine (international market only for the latter).
The trawlers would be out for several days so the fish were to be brought back in to the dock refrigerated at 25°F. Water was then pumped into the hold to loosen the fish and the slurry would then be pumped back through a six inch pipe to the processing factory. The water contained blood, scales, and oily substances from the fish and was commonly referred to as “stinkwater”.
Operational and Regulatory Challenges
In October 1967, just months after the plant started operating, reports of a huge spill of “greasy fish gruel and rotting fish” were reported by fishermen on the east wall of Charlotte Harbor. Vultures by the hundreds and catfish in schools descended upon the nasty overflow from the plant. A commercial fisherman living on Yucca Pen Creek saw large mullet floating dead at the mouth of his creek and another fisherman reported that the discharge was hanging from the mangroves. The company claimed human error caused the spill of the “stinkwater” but the plant was closed for a period while process improvements were made.
Also in 1967, four captains on two large trawlers employed in harvesting the non food small fish were charged with also scooping up food fish with their nets, which was strictly against the law and operating authorizations. Charles Davies, the Protein Products Corporation manager, stated that it was “physically impossible” to not catch some food fish. He claimed his trawlers captured only .02% food fish in a 268 ton catch, which seems a little hard to believe given that a purse seine net is gathered from the bottom and scoops up all of the fish above it.
On November 25, 1967 the Lee County Chapter of the Organized Fishermen of Florida asked for a purse seine ban in territorial waters (3 leagues (10.4 statute miles) out from shore). On February 27, 1968 Florida imposed a ban within five miles of the Lee County coastline and ten miles from the Collier County coastline. This was sponsored by Rep. Ted Randell.
Tragedy at the Dock
On the morning of Sunday, August 11, 1968 the Novelty, a 125 foot long steel trawler, docked at the Protein Products Corporation dock with a 50 ton catch after four days of fishing off Sanibel Island.
Image 2 - Purse Seine Trawler “Novelty” at the Protein Products Corporation Dock – August 12, 1968
It is difficult for me to relate the horror of what ensued that morning so I have opted to include the quotes by Lee County Sherriff’s Department Investigator James Loeffler and Fireman William H. Conrad provided in the August 12, 1968 Fort Myers News Press article by Patrick Kelly.
“Frances D. Webb, 23, of Peace Dale, R. I., the boat's pilot, had descended into the hold about 9:30 a.m. to start to flood it. This was not only to wash off the catch of mostly "trash fish" netted the night before but was also intended to provide a means of transferring the cargo to the fish meal plant by floating it out of the large [six inch] pipes made for the purpose. Several crewmen and most of the dockhands stood watching Webb through the open hatch. Without warning, Webb collapsed and Frances L. Winter, 53, of Punta Gorda [and originally R.I.] jumped through the hatch to help him. But, it immediately became obvious Winter himself was overcome and his brother, Joseph K. Winter, 55, also of Punta Gorda [and R.I.], went to rescue him. He was also immediately in trouble and, as fumes arose from the still gushing water in the hold, other men began to show signs of being affected. Stephen F. Richmond, 18-year-old 2nd engineer, from Wakefield, R. I., who had been standing at the door of the galley, toppled over into the hold, lifeless. Kenneth Smith, 55, Matlacha Station, operations manager for the plant, who lived in a trailer on the property, likewise was overcome and fell into the hold. By this time, a frightened dockworker, using the mobile telephone equipment on the trawler, called for help. He reached the police department in Punta Gorda.”
On arrival, Loeffler said, he became aware of the first bit of heroism.
“A dockworker named Roy McNeely had descended into the open hatchway, holding his breath. By using a rope, he was able to rescue Lawrence Finley, 33, of North Port Charlotte [other newspapers cite eye witness accounts which identify the brave rescuer as Frank Martin, who went down into the hull and placed a hook around Finley’s belt]. But Finley was unconscious and appeared to have stopped breathing. Unaware of the nature of the poisonous gas, the ship's cook, one-armed Clyde Parrish, 56, of Punta Gorda had immediately begun mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and Finley began to show signs of recovery. He was rushed to the Charlotte Medical Center Hospital in Punta Gorda [he did recover]. Parrish's life-saving effort was a definite act of heroism. When the Fort Myers rescue unit arrived, Firemen Henry C. Howard and William H. Conrad immediately radioed for gas masks and air-packs. While this equipment was on its way to the scene, Conrad decided to attempt to get to some of the bodies in the hold any way he could. With the help of his fellow fireman, Howard, and Deputy Coleman, Conrad fastened a rope around his waist, took a deep breath of fresh air and dove into the hold. He succeeded in getting another rope around Smith, the last man to fall. Still holding his breath, Conrad and his helpers got the body to the dock. "But it was obvious there was no hope," he said. "The man's face was black. He was gone." Conrad repeated his rescue attempt with the body of young Richmond which "seemed to be twitching" as it floated in the water in the hold. But Richmond, too, had died. Recovery of the remaining bodies was made after Fireman Lester Landrum arrived with the gas masks and air-packs. There was considerable confusion on the dock as efforts were made to appraise the situation and identify victims. The Novelty's skipper, Capt. Ralph Robert Smith, about 50, was overcome briefly on deck but revived before his condition became serious. The Protein Products plant grounds and the ship have been sealed off by order of a maritime officer of the U. S. Dept. of Labor.”
Dock hand Cecil Dotson was an eye witness and stated that “in just 20 to 30 seconds, they were all gone - they just stepped down and that was that”. Crew member John Woodbey claimed that in eleven years on similar boats he had seen three other men die from exposure to gas. A Punta Gorda dock hand, Kenneth Hembree, whose job it would normally have been to wash out the hold, escaped the disaster when he had to call in sick that morning due to multiple bee stings.
Cause and Effect
While it was generally acknowledged that the gas which was generated when the hose was turned on precipitated the deaths, in the days following the tragedy there was much speculation about the actual source and nature of the gas. After autopsies and tests of the ship and processing plant were performed, Dr. Wallace M. Graves, a Fort Myers pathologist, confirmed that hydrogen sulfide was the lethal gas. It can be produced by decaying organic matter. Thornton Laboratory of Tampa, working for the Coast Guard, determined that the slush water in the cargo area contained 564 parts per million (ppm) of hydrogen sulfide while toxicity levels are normally 20 ppm. Lethal levels were also found in the hose and storage tank which the water was pumped from. The plant had operated for a single day a week earlier but not for the month prior to that due to lower summer fish harvests. Protein Products Corporation and its insurer commissioned a report to determine how the disaster occurred but it was never made public. Sherriff’s Investigator Loeffler stated that he did not press for the report or lay any charges. A Florida Industrial Commission officer stated in September 1970 that it was never fully determined what combination of equipment or circumstances caused the deaths. Civil cases were unlikely given the shaky financial condition of the Corporation.
Clean up and Subsequent Operations
A month after the accident the storage tanks were stabilized by Inter-Science Research and Engineering of Tampa through an oxidization process, and the treated fluid was dumped 20 miles out into the gulf.
The plant reopened 15 months later in November 1969 but due to low fish catches it began closing up again in March 1970. Richard T. Agster, the Corporation president, stated in September 1970 that “the Legislature put us very much out of business”. He was referring to changes to the purse seine fishing and food fish harvesting rules.
On September 28, 1970 there was a foreclosure sale auction of the company land and equipment. This was a result of a claim for $511,809 plus interest by Tampa Ship and Dry Dock Co. Inc., incurred while building the plant and facilities. The September 23, 1970 Auction Notice provides many details about the type of equipment employed in the operation.
In June 1971 the plant had a brief resurrection when it was used to process hyacinths into fertilizer. These had been harvested from the clogged Hendrickson Reservoir on Shell Creek, which at that time was supplying Punta Gorda with its fresh water.
Punta Gorda Isles, Inc. purchased the land shortly thereafter and combined it into the 3,000 acre Burnt Store Marina (BSM) and Burnt Store Lakes (BSL) development plan first made public in October 1972. The Lee County development plat for BSM was issued in June 1973.
Protein Products was not the first to consider a fish processing plant on the east wall of Charlotte Harbor. In 1932 “Wild Bill” Belvin, the Pine Island Road resident who received country-wide notoriety in 1930 for living alone off the grid for a year on the shores of Charlotte Harbor (three miles south of the Lee-Charlotte county line), came up with an interesting scheme. While working with Punta Gorda Fish Company fishermen on Crow Key and Bull Key, he conceived a technique for turning predatory fish and fish scraps into fish meal and fish fertilizer. The product was made by the process of cooking and drying. The fertilizer was produced by the addition of potassium chloride and muriate of potash to the dehydrated fish scrap. Examples of his product were presented to the Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce in November 1932, but I have found no record of a commercial operation being established.
Most of the material for this article was sourced from over 30 news articles published between 1966 and 1972 in the Punta Gorda Herald, Fort Myers News Press, Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times, and Miami Herald.
