TERRA CEIA — As the rising sun seeps through twisted mangroves, JP Clark’s fly fishing rod bends suddenly.
The clear, quiet waters of this hidden coastal flat splash to life. A 20-inch redfish shoots upfrom the shallows.
Clark and his brother, Steve, fish this secluded spot at the mouth of Tampa Bay every weekend. Some family time in nature, away from the clamor of citylife, is the highlight of their week.
But early on a recent Saturday morning, their outing feels different. More depressing, the brothers say. More urgent.
The brothers learned recently that themangrove forest just feet from their boat could one day be gone. Their favorite fishing spot sits within the private 328-acre Knott-Cowen tract in Manatee County, the location wherea leading cruise company, SSA Marine, is proposing to build a multiberth cruise port.
“Look around. This is one the last remaining natural places in the estuary,” Steve Clark, 52, says. “There’s already not much left. How much more of this do we have to destroy?”
Since the company first publicized itsidea two weeks ago, the proposed cruise port has become the latest symbol of a quintessential tension in this rapidly developing state: The promise of jobs and more tourism money is colliding with fears over the environmental degradation that could come atthe expense of growth.
Manatee County is already the front lines. About 3,000 acres of wetlands have disappeared in the county over roughly the last decade, a Tampa Bay Times analysis of land use data shows. Manatee ranks fifth among Florida counties for share of wetlands lost during that period.
Florida has lost about 81,000 acres of wetlands like those inthe Knott-Cowen tract overall since 2014, the Times found.
The proposed cruise port site could impact a more than 300-acre swath beside the Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve, widely considered one of the most vibrant sections of the Tampa Bay estuary.
Many residents in Terra Ceia have organized their opposition alongside environmental advocacy groups, signing petitions and emailing lawmakers. Cruise industry supporters, meanwhile, are excited at the prospect, and SSA Marine said its plan would position Tampa Bay to be a cruise hub for decades to come.
“Together, we can define the next generation of cruising in West Central Florida: one that supports local jobs, strengthens the region, preserves the region’s unique ecology, and reflects the values of West Central Florida,” Stefano Borzone, president of SSA Marine’s cruise division, wrote in a Bradenton Herald guest column earlier this month.
The Clark brothers, who have called sleepy Terra Ceia home for nearly five years, know where they stand.
“I just don’t know how you could consider destroying something that clearly provides value to our community,” JP, 49, said.
After hereels the redfish to the bow of his skiff,he quickly unhooks it,releasing it back to the wild.
Details are scant as lawmakers raise questions
While specifics about the proposal remain scarce, records show the private landowner that SSA is working with, Slip Knott LLC, began early development talks with Manatee County officials Jan. 16.
The team asked for a sit-down with county planning officials, a typical preliminarystep in any major development. A county spokesperson said that meeting was scheduled for this Friday.
The project team wants to rezone the coastal tract to industrial land to allow for construction that maytake up to five years, records obtained by the Times show.
The landowner says it has rights, dating to the 1950s, to dredge and fill the surrounding area.
Honey Rand, a spokesperson for the landowner who owns the proposed port site, said the group of investors has long looked for a solution to permanently protect nearbyRattlesnake Key. The investors own the Knott-Cowen tract and surrounding properties — where the port is being proposed — and owned Rattlesnake Key, just to the southwest, until it sold it to a subsidiary of SSA Marine in October.
Below: See the location of the proposed cruise port site relative to Rattlesnake Key
Previous efforts to sell Rattlesnake Key for protection have fallen short. In 2022, lawmakers set aside $23 million to buy the key, and the county threw in another $3 million. But talks stalled after a state appraisal came in just north of $7 million — far less than the proposed purchase price. Rand told the Times in 2024 that the appraised amount was worse than a lowball.
Then in 2024, state lawmakers set aside $8 million to buy Rattlesnake with Manatee County poised to chip in local funding.
“Negotiations fell apart when the property owner believed the land was worth more,” state Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, said in a statement Jan. 23.
After that, the landowners “made a business decision” to find a project that would preserve Rattlesnake and pursue development of the Knott-Cowen land, where the port is now being proposed, Rand said.
After the landowner investor group met with SSAMarine, it decided to pursue a project with the company to preserve Rattlesnake while exploring a way to develop the port site, Rand said, addingthat SSA was “the best choice” for that vision.
While it aims to develop the Knott-Cowen land just to the north of Rattlesnake Key, SSA Marine — whose purchase of Rattlesnake from the investor group totaled $18 million in October — said it is proposing to conserve Rattlesnake Key “to remove any possibility of private commercialization.”
Despite those assurances, concerns about the port plan continue to mount from state and county decision-makers. Boyd announced Jan. 23 lawmakers were withdrawing a bill that would have given more state control over the county’s port authority.
The legislative delegation claimed the bill — which would have transferred local control of the port authority and given the governor four appointees — wasn’t related to the new port proposal, but given the timing and the growing public angst, Boyd said it was prudent to shelve the measure.
That bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bill Conerly, R-Lakewood Ranch, said in a statement that he opposes the new port proposal.
The idea “raises concerns about seasonal traffic surges, roadway congestion, infrastructure strain, and environmental impacts on sensitive coastal habitats,” Conerly said.
Leaders at the county level have concerns, too.
At a county commission meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Mike Rahn, who also oversees the port authority, said he wonders how a new port would affect existing operations at SeaPort Manatee, which is just four miles to the northeast. He also questioned the potential impacts of dredging on the surrounding habitat and the shortage of available harbor pilots in the region to service large cruise ships.
In a statement, SSA said it’s in the early stages of sharing its plan with community leaders and addressing concerns.
“We look forward to continuing these conversations in the months ahead,” a spokesperson for the company, Sally Dee, told the Times.
Property has long been seen as an economic opportunity
SSA’s pitch arrives at a time when Florida’s transportation department sees vast economic potential in the state’s cruise ports, where 60% of U.S. passengers set sail.
Port Tampa Bay is limited to cruise ships that can fit under the 190-foot vertical clearance of the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge. SSA says that’s why it’s identified the Knott-Cowen tract for a new port: Ships wouldn’t need to go under the bridge.
Most older cruise ships can clear the Skyway. But the newest, flashiest models — like Royal Caribbean’s 248-foot Icon of the Seas and the 193-foot Disney Wish — can’t.
Florida’s top three ports for cruise traffic, Port Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral, can accommodate ships of any size. Port Tampa Bay, which netted more than 1.6 million passenger trips in 2025 compared to Port Miami’s roughly 8.5 million, is the fourth-most popular cruise port in the state.
Economically, Tampa Bay has the lodging space and tourism appeal to attract more passengers if it had a cruise port unimpeded by size restrictions, said Andrew Coggins, a cruise industry professor at Pace University in New York.
A new port “would make Tampa more competitive as a cruise (destination),” Coggins said.
It’s unclear, though, what that would mean for business atthe region’s existing ports. In a statement to the Times earlier this month, Port Tampa Bay said it valued the ongoing discussion, but it stopped short of taking a formal stance on the proposal.
“Looking ahead, Port Tampa Bay remains focused on thoughtful growth, as cruising continues to expand globally,” spokesperson Merissa Lynn said in a statement.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who serves on the Port Tampa Bay board, said she doesn’t think the portwould be adversely affected.
“Since the launch of the first mega-ships, our cruise business has continued to grow year-over-year,” Castor said. “I don’t see (a new port) being impactful.”
SSA Marine is not a small company. It’s a subsidiary of Carrix Inc., one of the world’s largest marine terminal operators. In 2021, reports show Blackstone Infrastructure Partners bought out Carrix’ controlling shareholders.
And SSA’s pitch isnot the first time a cruise port has been floated on the Knott-Cowen tract, records obtained from Manatee County show.
A marketing flyer created by a real estate firm years ago to promote potential development opportunities touted the land as offering“a great opportunity for cruise terminal development, whether private or public.” The undated document is stored on Manatee County’s website for public planning documents. A county spokesperson said there was never a formal proposal associated with that pitch.
Bob Buckhorn, the former Tampa mayor who has said he intends to run again to succeed Castor, said he recalls discussions about a new cruise port beyond the Skyway happening a decade ago, when he sat on the port’sboard during his first term as mayor. Those discussions ultimately floundered, he said.
Buckhorn said he disapproves of dredging and developing an environmentally sensitive area like that found around Rattlesnake Key.
Development is “a very real threat to a very fragile ecosystem that is very important economically and environmentally to our region,” he said.
“I don’t think it is something that we should tamper with for those reasons.”
‘All we have left:’ Residents prepare for debate to ramp up
On Facebook, Terra Ceia residents said that they’re receiving calls and texts soliciting their opinions on the new port from professional pollsters. Some felt the surveyors were steering them away from expressing environmental concerns.
One resident, Geoff Click, said his phone rang just after 6 p.m. Monday. The caller had a Lakeland area code, he said, but told him they were working for a research group based in Houston. SSA did not answer the Times’ inquiries about whether they’re working with the surveyor.
Click, who has lived in Terra Ceia since 2019, said the caller peppered himwith questions:
The cruise port would create jobs — does knowing that make you more or less likely to support the idea? What are the reasons you would oppose the port? What’s your impression of SSA Marine, local environmental groups, county commissioners?
“They framed it as if the cruise port was the best thing that could happen here,” Click said. He runs a watersports company in St. Pete Beach and said he appreciates how tourism drives the region’s coastal economy. Buthe opposes the port for environmental reasons.
The Clark brothers, who spend their weekends fishing beside the proposed cruise portsite, said they plan to join upcoming demonstrations to oppose the development.
As they motored their skiff through the coastal flats Saturday, a dolphin and its calf darted in circles. Shorebirds and seagulls waded alonga sandbar, poking their beaks into the sand tohunt for food.
Smaller critters — hermit crabs, lightning whelks and snails — skittered along the the seafloor.
“This is all we have left,” Steve Clark said.
“It’s a pocket of Old Florida worth protecting.”
The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Florida’s most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here.