This and the following chapters provide a comprehensive report on the NOAA Fisheries study titled “Identifying Communities Associated with the Fishing Industry along the Florida Gulf Coast.” The report is companion to volumes developed through identical research in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. The research has been conducted for NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office (SERO), in fulfillment of its goal to effectively manage the various fisheries upon which residents of certain towns and cities in the Gulf of Mexico have depended and/or continue to depend, to greater and lesser degrees, for economic and social purposes. Systematic description of relevant aspects of those places is the overarching goal of the current study.1 The project was undertaken and completed by Impact Assessment, Inc. (IAI), a research firm specializing in maritime social science in the coastal zone of the United States.

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