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WELCOME TO THE LIGHTHOUSE
(Formerly known as the PARTNERS OF COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN PRIVATE FORUM!)
Click the image for a welcome message from Founder Megan WaldrepWe are so honored and excited that you are here, and we hope you feel the same as you click through and learn about other POCFs like you. In addition to this amazing community, you can access our private group chat AND 2-3 new resources posted by the first of each month. The newest resource will be highlighted in yellow once you click on a topic.
This a VIP experience where you can hang behind the velvet ropes with your fellow POCF sisters and just be. 🙂
Below are a few instructions on how to get the most out of THE LIGHTHOUSE private community!
Megan would love to welcome you personally! Click here for a video by Founder Megan Waldrep
(Make sure to return here after the video to read the steps below. The video is not instructional for our awesome forum. 💝)
Step 1: Be Kind and respectful of others and their opinions/experiences. POCFs are very diverse from all different backgrounds, cultures, and stages of being a POCF. This is a place for us to share without judgment and support each other – no bad vibes here.
Step 2: Once you read these steps, please click “🙋♀️ Introduce Yourself to the Group!” at the top of this page to write your first post and learn about other POCFs! Feel free to reply to others; we can’t wait to meet you! 👯♀️ ⚓️ (Please do not reply to this post; instead, go to “🙋♀️ Introduce Yourself to the Group!” to start your very own post!)
- BONUS: Once you introduce yourself in this forum, I will put you in our private group text chat, which is currently available on the Telegram app! If you’re interested in contacting other POCFs, click this link, and you’ll have instant access!
Step 3: After writing a post, check the box labeled “Notify me of follow-up replies via email” (image below) to be alerted when someone replies to your post. If you choose to opt-out but still want to meet others, it’s all good! Check the forum to see who has joined or messaged you.
Check the box “Notify me of follow-up replies via email.” It will look like this:
*Note that the more you put into this experience, the more you get out of it. This is how you can connect with our community!*
Step 4: Connect on topics that are important to you today. Select the topic that you’d like more support in (i.e., 🌟 Personal Wellness, 💘Relationship, 💰 Financial Resources, 📣 Private Podcasts, Recordings, & In-Person Events, and more!) You get 2-3 new resources a month on topics that are important to you today, and the newest resources will be highlighted in yellow once you click on the topic.
Step 5: If something is happening in your fishery, and you’d like to seek support or ask questions to other POCFs dealing with the same, check the “🛟 Fishery Questions & Support” section to connect. You can even look for or post deckhand jobs here!
Step 6: *New* Our “💌 Suggestion Box” is where you can request additional support and share ideas on improving your experience in THE LIGHTHOUSE. I want this to be the most incredible experience for you as possible, so please, I’m all ears! I’d love your feedback on how to make this more enjoyable and valuable to you!
Step 7: If you have any questions or feedback, please email support@, and we will respond within 24 hours!
Step 8: Have fun and make this your own! We want you to feel like you always have a space to come and connect and vent with love. No matter what we discuss, it will be kept private. What happens in THE LIGHTHOUSE stays in THE LIGHTHOUSE!
Alright, let’s do this! Tim to meet your community and “🙋♀️ Introduce Yourself to the Group!“
➡️ *First Post Prompt: Please state your name, location, fishery of your partner, and fun facts you’d like to share. You can chat with other POCFs there, too! (Make sure to check the box “Notify me of follow-up replies via email” to get an email alert when others chat back to you!)
Hi to all my fellow POCFs!
My name is Claire Orgass, I currently reside in the small fishing village of Goodland, FL. A small island that is apart of the 10,000 islands and neighbor to what I consider the “secret garden” The Florida Everglades.
I grew up on the connecting island to Goodland, Marco Island. My home has grown to be what most consider a “vacation destination”, and home to only the wealthy. Though its booming growth slowly chips away at its once quaint and prosperous natural resources, I still manage to find the beauty and peace I knew as a child. I grew up in a hard working middle class family. My parents moved to the area close to fifty years ago from Michigan and New York. Being one of six children and due to my parents lack of accessibility and knowledge of the water, fishing and all things included were not part of my upbringing.
Upon graduating H.S and moving out on my own, while working and going to school to create a life of my own. I knew that stepping into the waters around me had always called my name. Paddle boarding and any means of getting into the estuaries and gulf around me was something I choose to take advantage of every opportunity I could. Slowly I became more confident, comfortable and knowledgeable about the environment around me. One of my favorite college courses was “environmental biology of SW FLORIDA”. Learning about my local environments history, ecosystem, and everything in between only amplified my passion for this lifestyle.
Fast forward to 2017… I gave birth to my son Elliot. A blessing in which I truly believe saved and put my life on the path it was meant for. With my own childhood missing the chance to be intertwined with the waters around me, I knew that offering that to my son was something I would do everything in my power to give him. What young boy doesn’t want to fish and cast a line?! So we took to learning things together! Fishing anywhere and any chance we could. Learning knots, styles and techniques of fishing, classifications of all creatures who dwell in our waters. We would fish anywhere and everywhere we could, salt/fresh/brackish waters… heck we’ve even caught some fish on good ole bread bait!
Well, 6 years later I was blessed to have met the man of my dreams. My partner Tyler, who I may not have known I was waiting for during those 6 years of being a single mom… but god certainly knew I was. Tyler is a commercial fisherman currently in the stone crab industry, and prior to crabbing has commercial fished mullet in run season since he was in high school.
My home, my “secret garden” is full of a rich history in fishing that think is greatly overlooked! Tyler’s family “The Doxsee’s”were an integral part of the community in which I grew up. Hailing from Long Island, New York the Doxsee family found themselves in Marco Island, FL as some of its first settlers… aside from the native Calusa Indians of course!
The Doxsee family brought and expanded their already established clamming knowledge and business to Marco Island. Commercial clamming in the Doxsee family is just the base in which their commercial fishing blood begins. As time went on and Marco began to become more sought after, all original residents were relocated to “Goodland”. As this transpired, the over fishing of clams became prevalent and the factory soon was closed. Though… as many of us probably know, and see in our fisherman that the grit and passion for this industry never dies. As The Doxsee family grew with its children and their own family lines, so did their means of commercial fishing. Learning from the right and wrong means of their fishing past the next generation of Doxsee’s knew better and choose to do better for the commercial industry.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Tyler’s grandmother Linda Doxsee married a great man, Charles Arthur. “Captain Bly, do or die” as many knew him by. Together they stepped into the new and blossoming world of Stone Crabbing. A marvelous and unique species with an incredibly sustainable nature. Though Linda’s roots did not, and til this day have not waivered. You would still find her with her children and grandchildren (my partner Tyler) searching for an occasional clam or two and ALWAYS in pursuit of a “black of mullet” which is a dense school of mullet seen in the water. A sight which only in person do you understand the adrenaline and pure joy that runs through your body upon seeing it. The ripple on the water and the speed in which they move is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. And once you’ve heard a mullet jump/skip in the water. You are able to call out that sound even without seeing it.</p>
Jumping back to present day, Tyler has been so gracious and welcoming to Elliot and I into the world of commercial fishing. Teaching us both everyday and all of us loving every minute of it. Elliot has learned and become very proficient in throwing a cast net and I have and continue to become well versed in the process of stone crabbing. This summer, together we have worked on cultivating our own business and place in the commercial fishing world. We have assembled from concrete bottom to branded and painted buoys our own 300 stone crab traps. Outside of his own work on the “endangered species” a crab boat ran out of Goodland during the week and my job at a long standing local restaurant, we have been running our own commercial traps on weekends.As I continue to learn from Tyler, I cannot wait to also learn from everyone here. I look forward to connecting with all of you and the chance to share more about me and my story!
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