News

A Pioneer Son at Sea,
by Gilbert L. Voss,
University Press of Florida (www.upf.com), 200 pp, $19.95.

By Willie Howard

    Gilbert Voss was a Renaissance man of the South Florida fishing variety.
    Born in Hypoluxo to pioneer parents, Voss fished commercially for mackerel and mullet during the 1930s and ’40s, served in the Coast Guard during World War II and eventually became a research biologist, professor, conservationist and author.  
    Before he died in 1989, Voss created a manuscript of the colorful fishermen, sponge divers, oystermen and others who wrested a living from the water on both coasts of Florida in his newly released book, A Pioneer Son at Sea: Fishing Tales of Old Florida.
    Voss’ son, Robert Voss, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, edited the book. He added introductory background about his father’s early life and his pioneer ancestors, along with notes that add historical context to several chapters.
    By writing about his life on the water, the elder Voss captures the flavor of fishermen and fishing communities that have long since vanished in our state of 20 million people.
    He shares tales of rumrunners who eluded the authorities by tossing a net overboard at the Lantana bridge during Prohibition. He takes readers fishing at night for Spanish mackerel, finding the schools by the “fire in the water,” and describes the Bahamian conch fishermen of Riviera Beach who netted mackerel, bluefish and pompano from custom-built sea skiffs.
    In a chapter titled Tight Lines! Voss tells of charter fishing around 1940 aboard the Dream Girl, his brother’s 36-foot wooden sea skiff — including a trip off of Stuart where they came upon a group of sailfish using their tall dorsal fins to herd small fish into balls.
    After serving four years in the Coast Guard during World War II, Voss turned his attention to academics. He wanted to become a writer, but after enrolling at the University of Miami at age 30, he took a zoology course and was hooked.
    Voss began to tag and study game fish, blending his thirst for biological knowledge with his experience as a fisherman. He became an active researcher in an era when marine research was taking off.
    Voss eventually earned his Ph.D., specializing in cephalopods such as squids and octopuses. He wrote several books about Florida marine life, including Seashore Life of Florida and the Caribbean, and served as a professor of biological oceanography at the University of Miami.
    In the late 1950s, Voss lobbied with others for the formation of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park to protect the reefs from the widespread exploitation that he observed.