By David Pendered
July 7 – The Apalachicola Bay could be reopened to oyster harvesting in 2026 even though the oyster population remains decimated.
Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in August is to consider if, when and how the bay will be reopened to oyster harvesting. The commission closed oyster beds to harvesting in 2020 in hopes they would recover from a collapse that dated to 2013. They haven’t recovered.
“To date, no significant recovery has occurred since the 2013 collapse,” is the conclusion of a February report by state wildlife officials. The report noted that harvests have fluctuated but remained high since the 1950s. Recovery was swift after Hurricane Elena damaged the bay in 1985, but recovery has not followed the collapse of 2013.
Local residents are applying considerable pressure to reopen the history fishery, according to a report in mypanhandle.com. Generations have harvested this shellfish, which is as iconic to Florida as blue crabs are to Maryland and lobsters are to Maine. Without a commercial harvest of oysters, the region is reliant on tourism. A major employer closed in 1999, a papermill in nearby Port St. Joe, and nothing has taken its place.
Locals have already objected to the state’s tentative plans to allow only commercial harvesting if the bay is reopened. They want to be allowed to take oysters on a recreational basis. One wrinkle with that proposal is that the amount of oysters taken would not be reported to the state, which could affect monitoring of the oyster population.
A tentative three-step plan for implementation as early as January 2026 calls for:
- Opening to commercial harvesting a few smalls areas of the bay that could support a harvest;
- Continue efforts to restore oyster beds, at a projected annual cost of $30 million to $50 million a year;
- Keeping some areas closed to harvesting.
The commission’s timeline is to consider in August the proposed rules for Apalachicola Ban, and consider final rules at its November meeting.
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