No more half-shells? State may pause Apalachicola Bay oyster harvest until 2025

State officials are poised to stop the harvest of wild oysters in Apalachicola Bay for the next five years.

The move by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — intended to let the bay rest after years of dismal oyster harvests — has the support of the Franklin County Seafood Worker’s Association and a majority of its members and the Apalachicola Riverkeeper.

The commission will vote on the proposal at its July 22 meeting, according to an online agenda. 

More:Agenda for FWC July 2020 meeting

Since 2010, oyster numbers in the bay have been on the decline due to numerous reasons, chiefly overharvesting, habitat reduction and reduced freshwater flows that have increased the bay's salt content.

Although habitat restoration efforts have been underway for years, they often produce enough oysters for a season’s harvest before they are again wiped out, Seafood Worker Association President Shannon Hartsfield said.

Closing the bay could afford more time for oysters to mature and become sustainable again, he added.

“I think this is what we’ve been pushing for a while,” Hartsfield said. “Our bay is constantly trying to recover in places — and some places it’s not.”

He said there is a small percentage of oystermen worried that once the bay closes, it may never reopen again. At one point, the large, salty oysters of Apalachicola Bay accounted for 90% that made it onto plates in Florida and 10% of the entire country.

Reduced river flow became more noticeable starting in the early 2000s and increased fishing pressure after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 preceded a fisheries disaster declaration a few years later when oyster abundance dropped sharply.

The flow of water from upstream Georgia has been the subject of a legal fight for more than 35 years. The most recent twist is a recommendation that Florida has not adequately shown that Georgia’s water use caused problems in the Apalachicola River and Apalachicola Bay.

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Since then, efforts to place shells on the bay floor to provide habitat for spat – young oysters – have yielded mixed results, Hartsfield said.

When oysters do take and thrive, within a few years they are harvested and the area becomes sparse again, as has the number of boats on the water.

“Areas we rebuild, we’re having a first and second cycle of oysters but we don’t have a third and fourth cycle,” Hartsfield said. “Every time we rebuild an area, the oysters will grow to it and a handful of people will go and wipe it out. It’s not having a chance to expand.”

The Riverkeeper noted the decrease in oystermen and lauded the suspension of harvest as a way to let the bay recharge.

“The oyster fishery has been reduced to a handful of active fishermen compared to hundreds who once worked the bay waters every day,” the organization wrote in a statement supporting the measure. “Suspending wild oyster harvesting is an essential step in protecting and restoring the health and productivity of the entire Apalachicola Bay.”

Florida State University has committed to the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative in the search for more rooted causes of oyster population drops.

Hartsfield said there is certain to be opposition to closing the bay among some, but he said he’s been assured by state officials it will reopen in 2025, if not earlier, depending on what happens.

There could also be changes to licensing numbers, harvest limits and further restrictions that may mean fewer harvests in the short term with an eye toward long-term sustainability.

“It made me sick to my stomach to think of it,” Hartsfield said of the possible closure. He’s been oystering out of Apalachicola since the 1980s.

“But I know in my heart it’s a good thing.”

How to watch

FWC meets virtually July 22-23. The meeting can be watched on The Florida Channel, which is also online at https://thefloridachannel.org/. Comments can be submitted in advance via email to Commissioners@MyFWC.com.

Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com or @KarlEtters on Twitter.

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