KEY LARGO, Fla. — In the 1950s, the continental United States’ only living barrier reef was under attack. Divers armed with chisels, hammers and dynamite were harvesting barge loads of colorful coral and queen conch for curio shops and roadside vendors.
Unbridled spearfishing, unregulated marine-life collecting and heavy anchors also were damaging the unique and important marine resource located a few miles offshore of the Florida Keys.
In 1960, the hammering, chiseling, blasting and spearfishing stopped - at least on 75 square miles of lush wonderland designated as the world’s first underwater park.
From Wednesday to Dec. 11, Key Largo’s John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park will celebrate its 50th birthday with a series of events, including one under the sea at the world-famous Christ of the Abyss statue. The festivities will highlight the park’s pioneering history.
“We had grand terrestrial national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite, but focusing on the underwater world had not been done before,” said Billy Causey, southeast regional director of the National Marine Sanctuary Program.
Underwater photographer Stephen Frink, of Key Largo, said that a half-century ago, it took visionaries to see the need for such a marine preserve.
“Nobody was thinking about protecting the ocean at that time because not many people put their head under the water with a facemask,” Frink said.
Actually a select few were thinking about protecting the ocean and its fragile floor. One of them was Gilbert Voss, a University of Miami professor. He sounded the alarm at a 1957 biological conference in South Florida. The call to action was answered by a group of conservationists, politicians and Keys’ heavy-hitters.
Leadership was provided by John Pennekamp Sr., associate editor of The Miami Herald. A decade earlier, he had been instrumental in the establishment of Everglades National Park.
He reportedly landed the needed funding from several state legislators during a boozy, 10-cent-minimum poker game in which his luck included winning one hand with four kings.
“And my dad was a self-proclaimed lousy poker player,” John Pennekamp Jr. said.
Pennekamp Sr.’s behind the-scenes lobbying and fiery newspaper editorials worked again, this time for a park that preserved the marine ecosystem. With the state owning waters only to the three-mile line and most of the reef located farther offshore, the park required the transfer of federal water to the state. President Dwight Eisenhower approved the transfer.
Causey and Frink agreed that Pennekamp park served as a “shining example of marine conservation” and set the stage for future preservation and protection of the underwater world.
“As Pennekamp succeeded with artificial reef programs, mooring buoys, repopulation of corals and other initiatives to enhance the specific environment, other places started to get smart,” Frink said.
The park originally protected just 75 square miles underwater, less than 10 percent of the reef tract that runs from near Miami to the Dry Tortugas. But it led to many more protected marine areas, including the 2,900-square-mile Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
Pennekamp park was dedicated on Dec. 10, 1960. Gov. LeRoy Collins told the large crowd that it would be a “benefit to generations forever.”
When the park’s land base opened to the public in 1963, tourists flocked to take the glass bottom boat rides and other trips to see the sponges, lobsters, brain coral, sea fans and beautiful tropical fish of the reef.
For the past few months, workers have been scrambling to spruce up the park’s now 3,185-acre land base for the celebration. Current park manager Jay Wells said $400,000 has been spent on renovations, which include a new 30,000-gallon aquarium to replace an old leaking one, upgrades to picnic pavilions to make them accessible to the disabled and improvements to the 47-site campground to accommodate the needs of RVs.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 11/29/2010