Charter fishing boats dock here, so pelicans come when the boats return after a day of fishing in hopes of getting leftovers when crews clean their catch. Although plentiful now, 50 years ago these pelicans, along with bald eagles and osprey, all but disappeared from Florida due to heavy use of DDT and other pesticides, something I witnessed first-hand while growing up there. Thanks to the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962, and despite fierce opposition from the chemical industry and agri-business, DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972. Now pelicans, bald eagles, and osprey are thriving and plentiful once again.