Ending a five-year ban, limited oyster harvesting will return in January to some parts of Northwest Florida’s struggling Apalachicola Bay.
With little discussion, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved rule changes setting the stage for a two-month season starting Jan. 1, with future seasons running from October through February.
Appearing at Wednesday’s meeting at Palm Beach State College in Belle Glade, Franklin County Commissioner Cheryl Sanders said she intends to watch the return of oyster boats on Jan. 1.
“I’m taking my day off from my hunting to come watch those boats on that bay,” Sanders said.
Areas of the bay will be open to permitted commercial harvesting on weekdays, with permitted recreational harvesting on weekends.
Franklin County Commissioner Ottice Amison expressed concerns that the number of commercial permits won’t be able to increase after the first season, based on details of the rule changes.
“I don’t think there is any viciousness involved in this on your behalf or your staff’s, but I think what we’re doing is we’re involuntarily shutting this fishery down long-term by doing that,” Amison said.
But while the rule sets a fixed number, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission can change the number before future seasons, Erika Burgess, a section leader for the agency, said.
“We want to start conservatively to ensure that we’re open next year and the year after that and the year after that,” Burgess said. “We don’t want to go into another closure.”
The bay has long been known for its oyster fishery, once supplying more than 90 percent of Florida’s oysters and 10 percent of the oysters sold nationally. But the fishery collapsed in 2013, and the bay was closed to harvesting in 2020.
Burgess said multiple threats have for decades affected the oyster industry, such as the removal of reef material to build roads, hurricanes, disease, and poor water quality.
Florida also has long argued that excessive water use by Georgia has caused damage. The bay is at the southern end of the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system, which starts in northern Georgia.
Burgess said limiting the annual harvest numbers “increases the chances of oyster reefs being open the following seasons.”
The state considers about 500 acres suitable for harvesting, down from 10,000 acres that were considered healthy habitat for oysters in the mid-2000s.
The reopening was backed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which also supported the 2020 closure.
“If we want to get near those numbers again, this conservative approach is necessary,” said Tom Wheatley, a project director for The Pew Charitable Trusts.
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has a goal to restore 2,000 acres of reefs by 2032.
Burgess estimated that restoration goals will annually need between $30 million and $55 million.
The state budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which started July 1, includes $12.5 million to restore oyster reefs in the bay and another $5 million for the Department of Environmental Protection to enter financial-assistance agreements with local governments on sewage facilities and stormwater projects to help protect the bay.