“Currents of Commerce: 50 Years of Fisheries and Resilience in Northwest Florida,” commemorates the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, landmark legislation that fundamentally reshaped fisheries management and conservation policy throughout the Gulf region. At a moment when working waterfronts and fishing communities continue to face environmental, economic, and cultural change, this project will use the anniversary as an opportunity to examine both the legacy of the Act and the broader history of maritime industries in the Florida Panhandle. Developed as part of the MLAP’s ongoing efforts to support the designation of the Florida Panhandle as a National Heritage Area, the project draws upon nearly a decade of historical and cultural research conducted for the National Heritage Area feasibility study.

Using a core theme from our feasibility study, the project will explore how waterways, fisheries, and working waterfronts have shaped the identity of Northwest Florida for generations. Through the collection of oral histories, the development of a traveling pop-up exhibit, and a panel discussion, the project will connect the impacts of the 1976 Act to a deeper historical narrative that stretches from Indigenous trade networks and colonial port systems to modern commercial fisheries and conservation efforts. The exhibit and programming will examine industries such as shrimping, mullet fishing, snapper fishing, purse seining, oystering, and seafood processing in coastal communities including Pensacola, Destin, St. Andrews, and Apalachicola, while also exploring the environmental and economic pressures that have shaped these industries over time. Humanities scholar Nicole Grinnan of the University of West Florida will help guide the historical interpretation, oral history development, and public humanities components of the project.