Capt. Benny Blanco is a professional fishing guide out of Miami, Florida, who works close to three hundred days a year, raises three daughters, and still finds time to stand on the front lines of the fight for the Everglades. He has been recognized with a conservation award from Captains For Clean Water and Costa. In this episode he joins me to talk about the South Florida water crisis from where he fishes, why his waters are starved of natural freshwater flow, and why he fights out of instinct to protect what he loves.
Benny Blanco is a professional fishing guide based out of Miami, Florida, who fishes close to three hundred days a year. He is a husband and father of three, and he is a conservation advocate recognized by Captains For Clean Water and Costa for his work on behalf of the Everglades.
Benny describes a South Florida water system that has been disrupted, where some areas get too much freshwater and others, including the ones he fishes, are starved of the natural freshwater flow they need. He explains that the problem looks different depending on where you stand geographically.
Benny explains that depending on where you are, the same broken system creates opposite symptoms. Some areas suffer freshwater inundation combined with high nutrients that cause problems when that water hits warm coastal water, while the areas he fishes are simply cut off from the freshwater they need.
Benny says he loves the Everglades and has fished and explored these waters most of his life, and he fights out of instinct to protect what he loves the most. He frames the work as personal rather than political.
Benny points to the organizations doing the work, including Captains For Clean Water, and to the broader community of guides and advocates raising awareness. He encourages people to get up to speed on the issue so they understand what is actually at stake.
I have had several guests on to talk about the Everglades, and every one of them adds a piece I did not have before. Benny is different because he fishes Miami waters that are starved of freshwater rather than drowning in it, so his front-line view is not the same one I had heard. He guides nearly every day, he is raising a family, and he still puts himself in the middle of this fight. I wanted to hear why, in his own words.
Most of the Everglades conversation I had heard focused on too much dirty water hitting the coasts. Benny flipped that for me by describing waters that are cut off from the freshwater they need to stay alive and healthy. Same broken system, opposite symptom. Hear him lay out what he sees on the water in the episode.
One of the things Benny made clear is that you cannot talk about the Everglades as one single problem. Depending on where you stand, the fix that helps one area can hurt another, which is exactly why the politics are so hard. He explains how that plays out across South Florida. Listen to that section.
Benny does not talk about this like a policy expert. He talks about it like a guy who grew up exploring these waters and cannot stand to watch them die. He told me he fights out of instinct to protect what he loves the most, and that line stuck with me. Press play to hear how personal this is for him.
The day after Benny and I talked, the thing I kept coming back to was how different his front-line view was from the one I already had. That is the value of talking to the people actually standing in the water.
If you care about the Everglades, or about any place worth protecting, listen to the whole conversation and then go get up to speed on the issue.
The Tom Rowland Podcast brings you long-form conversations with the most accomplished anglers, hunters, conservationists, and outdoor professionals in the game. Listen to every full-length Tom Rowland Podcast interview.
Capt. Benny Blanco is a professional fishing guide out of Miami, Florida, who works close to three hundred days a year while raising three daughters. He has spent most of his life fishing and exploring the waters of South Florida, and he has become a recognized voice in the fight for the Everglades, earning a conservation award from Captains For Clean Water and Costa. He fights, in his own words, out of instinct to protect what he loves the most.
Subscribe to get the latest episodes, show notes, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.