Okaloosa County Florida Commissioner’s Office wants to ultimately remove the vendors on Crab Island by making it very hard for them to operate. Starting November of this year, each vendor must bring their structures in nightly! The fees that are incurred are extremely high with talks of it going higher. The negative stigma that has been created against Crab Island is not due to the Vendors that are currently working on Crab Island, so removing the vendors does NOT solve any of the problems or make it a safer place. The grasslands and environmental issues are made worse by the hundreds of constant boat anchors that are there daily. That does more damage than the 8/9 floating structures whose anchors don’t move!!  The current political take is to put all the Vendors out of business the 2021 season due to a small portion of local angst that believe the Vendors have “ruined Crab Island and it’s an eyesore” making it extremely political. We believe the majority of Okaloosa County residents understand the positive impact the Crab Island Vendors have and the high tourism draw they bring to the County. Crab Island is a staple within the community because of the Vendors. The Vendors is what attracts the tourists and we believe the entire county will feel the negative reaction due to the Commissioner’s actions. The result will be a huge decrease in tourism and tourism revenue which would be an unnecessary upset for the city/county! Destin relies majorly on tourism and hospitality and unnecessarily removing the Vendors would cause a catastrophic decline in both. A hit Destin couldn’t afford to take.