Cortez Commercial Fishing Festival

Because of its strong linkage of Community/Place/Occupation the residents of the historical Cortez Fishing Village have a long memory and a world view that is ecologically centered on the water that surrounds them.

As a smart fisherman will keep a weather eye on clouds on the distant horizon, the community pulled together when large scale waterfront development loomed. In 1991 they combined a cultural organization, the Cortez Village Historical Society (CVHS), and a commercial fishing organization, the Organized Fishermen of Florida (O.F.F.) and became an activist organization, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (F.I.S.H.)