Exactly one year ago, a Martin County mother was in the hospital with her toddler in the ICU, waiting to hear from doctors how a shark bite at Bathtub Beach might forever impact her then 3-year-old.
Jessica Veatch said Monday her daughter's recovery is miraculous.
On this anniversary, that mom continues her fight to make sure no other families share a similar experience.
Jessica Veatch has been fighting for tougher shore-based shark fishing laws ever since she said she learned someone was fishing for sharks near the shoreline not long before her daughter, Violet, went swimming.
She feared that attracted a shark toward her daughter.
Monday, she spoke at an FWC workshop focusing on the possibility of tightening shore-based shark fishing rules.
The possibility of permits, equipment limitations and distance requirements from swimming areas have been discussed in a series of workshops around the state.
Veatch spoke Monday in the mix of those supporting and opposing tougher rules.
“Shark fishermen are fighting to continue this open season on our shorelines like their forefathers enjoyed and this is absurd. We can no longer live in the ways of the past,” Veatch said.
Opponents of some of the ideas to tighten up on shark fishing rules spoke up.
“It seems like it’s encroaching on our abilities to use the beaches,” one fisherman said.
Others supported more regulation.
“I think we should heavily regulate this activity,” another fisherman said.
FWC is hosting another workshop Tuesday in West Palm Beach.