Dave Jensen
Owner, Jensen's Marina & Twin Palm Cottages

When your livelihood depends on fishing, water quality is a big deal. So it is for Dave Jensen, owner of Jensen's Marina and Twin Palm Cottages. He's encouraged by the current situation and a growing awareness in the community of the importance of water quality.

"Fishing was very good this year -- except for the snook, which was hurt with the cold front last winter," says Dave. "And I believe the community has a better understanding of how we as individuals affect water quality. Positive changes are under way, and we're taking small baby steps in the right direction."

That's important to Dave, since his livelihood depends partly upon the area's $2.6 billion tourism industry. "If visitors were to experience two trips in a row without good fishing, we would feel the impact" he says.

He shares his own "personal wake-up call" to look in his own backyard to make changes. To him, every resident impacts the water simply by virtue of living in the area. As a result, he has taken on more personal responsibility and changed his lawn maintenance practices.

"The bottom line is more community involvement in our own backyard. We spend too much time talking about someone else, when we need to change our own backyards," he says. "We're all so busy that we stay away from community involvement and knowing what's going on. But we've got to get out and see what our elected officials are doing."