Florida regulators propose reopening commercial oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is considering reopening Apalachicola Bay to commercial and recreational oyster harvesting in 2026, with the commission claiming shellfish abundance has sufficiently recovered.Despite once being a powerhouse fishery – at one time providing 10 percent of the oysters consumed in the United States – the number of oysters in Apalachicola Bay cratered in 2012. The bay was closed to oyster harvesting in 2020, and regulators have kept it closed since then to allow the population to improve to a healthy level.Now, the FWC believes it has met that bar, and at its August meeting, staff put forward a management framework linking annual harvest levels to oyster abundance, as well as reef recovery.“We want to be able to get as many boats back in the water as soon as possible while supporting the bay’s continued recovery and sustainability,” FWC Commissioner Preston Farrior said in a release.The first season under the framework could ...