According to the officials this new projects could be used to provide additional parking, a retail fish house and other improvements in the area. They told that commercial fishing is a very important part of Port Salerno’s history. Martin County community development specialist Bonnie Landry expressed that Port Salerno is competing with 12 other projects in various parts of the state, including ones in Sebastian and Merritt Island, for the $7.5 million in Florida Forever grant money available this fiscal year through the Stan Mayfield Working Waterfronts Program.
It is told that the programme created this year will award money to purchase land that facilitates commercial fishing or aquaculture or promotes and educates the public about the traditional working waterfronts. The officials informed that the total grant request equals $28.4 million, with the two coordinated projects in Sebastian seeking more than $5 million.
It is told that wholesalers and five waterfront restaurants in that area purchase the annual catch of a million pounds of seafood.Some of the land slated for purchase is a vacant strip of land between Southeast Seaward Street and a parking lot to the south, bounded by the water on the east and Southeast Dixie Highway on the west.
