Stories from the Blue: Nathaniel Linville

Julu 2016

National marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments are the heart of many human communities, from native communities that have depended on the ocean for centuries and continue to do so, to vacationers who dive into sanctuary waters and surf their waves, to scientists and researchers who explore the ocean's depths. Join us each month as we tell stories from the blue celebrating the people at the center of national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments: sanctuaries.noaa.gov/stories. This month, we tell the story of Nathaniel Linville, owner of The Angling Company in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary!

Transcript

My name's Nathaniel Linville. We're in The Angling Company, a fly shop in Key West.

We were fishing on the flat and we were walking down this hard white sand bottom and she took a couple of casts at a school of permit. I was with Simon Becker, a friend of mine, and I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Yeah -- amazing thing is that any spot down here, any one area, is worthy of that kind of feeling in that kind of relationship with someone who wants to interact with the natural world out there.

I agree with anything that makes it harder for people to access or enjoy an area because what that does is it creates more care among the people that are there. This is a very special place and it's different than lots of other places. There's parts of the world where you can't fish in this way anymore because there's too many people doing too many different things.

If it wasn't for the historical use that was being preserved in this place, this place would be finished. We have a really great thing with a sanctuary and that's what makes it so special I think.