Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 444 West Palm Beach Fishing Club member news Jim Barry, a lifelong native of Palm Beach County, has been awarded the West Palm Beach Fish- ing Club’s highest honor, its Lifetime Achievement Award. Barry was pre- sented the prestigious award during the club’s 80th anniversary party. Anyone who enjoys boating, fishing, diving, snorkeling or wildlife viewing in Palm Beach County owes a debt of gratitude to Jim Barry. Jim is a re- tired public servant of 41 years work- ing for Palm Beach County’s Health Department and Department of En- vironmental Resources Management (ERM), where he served as the county Environmental Director for 22 years. He is a local boy who spent much of his youth fishing on the Palm Beach, Lake Worth and Juno piers and paid his own way through college by commercial fishing to obtain his degree in marine biology from the University of Miami. Jim’s accomplishments have been far reaching. In the early 1980’s he met with the late John D. MacArthur on multiple occasions and was the prin- ciple force in convincing the eccentric land baron to preserve an environ- mentally sensitive area we now call MacArthur Beach State Park. Around that same period Jim spearheaded the effort to get the first mangrove protection ordinance passed, the first of its kind in Florida. The ordinance would become a tem- plate for other coastal counties throughout the state. Jim was at the forefront of the successful ef- fort to get the Juno Beach fishing pier rebuilt in a fashion that bal- anced its environmental impact on marine turtles with the need for increased public fishing ac- cess. Jim Barry’s fingerprints are on some of the Lake Worth Lagoon’s most significant restoration projects, including Munyon Island (45 acres), Peanut Island (79 acres) and Snook Islands (80 acres). He is one of the original members of the Palm Beach County Artificial Reef & Estuarine Enhancement Committee where he continues to serve today. Most im- portantly during his tenure as the county’s Environmental Director he helped develop a funding mechanism for habitat restoration projects and created a culture of environmental in- novation at ERM that continues to this day. Arguably, Jim Barry may be one of the most influential environmental stewards that Palm Beach County has ever known, especially as it relates to the management of marine and estua- rine fisheries, protecting and restoring wetlands, and improving water quality. “I venture to say that the only other person who has had a greater impact on the environ- mental resources of Palm Beach County may very well be Mother Nature herself,” said WPBFC President Tom Twyford. “His positive impact on the resources of the region cannot be understated.” The same attention to detail that Jim gave to countless envi- ronmental projects; he now applies to his art. He has made highly collectible knives for over 40 years, many of which feature elaborate scrimshaw drawings. In recent years he has developed a passion for creating highly detailed pencil Jim Barry Receives Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award drawings. He enjoys the challenge of creating depth and contrast with just a pencil. Fellow WPBFC member Dr. Ray Waldner, an ichthyologist and bi- ology professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University, describes Jim’s drawings this way, “Jim is a perfectionist. He gets every membrane. There’s art and there’s biological illustration. Jim crosses that border.” Over the past decade Jim has created multiple pieces of original art for the WPBFC’s annual Palm Beach County KDW Classic and Silver Sailfish Derby. He has logged thousands of volunteer hours mak- ing these works of art for the Fishing Club. Unlike many other wildlife and marine artists, Jim has had no formal training. Instead he draws upon a lifetime of experiences spent on and under the water to find inspiration. The inscription on the WPBFC’s Lifetime Achievement award reads as follows, ‘To honor an individual who has demonstrated exceptional com- mitment to sportfishing and conserva- tion. Their vision and perseverance inspired others and promoted recre- ational fishing and its role in the his- torical development of South Florida’. The WPBFC Lifetime Achievement award has only been presented on four occasions. Jim Barry joins a select list of previous award recipients that include longtime WPBFC President Johnny Rybovich, past club director Frances Doucet and marine scientist Frank Mather who is recognized as the ‘Father of Cooperative Game Fish tagging’. Jim Barry presents a piece of original artwork in memory of the late Hap Wilson to McKenzie, Serena & Alexis Wilson.