Record number of oyster harvesting licenses sold this year

A record number of oyster harvesting licenses were sold this year. The Department of Agriculture issued 1409 oyster harvesting licenses this year – about 15 percent of those were first time oyster licenses. This year’s sales were well above the previous record of 1136 licenses sold in 2007. 1996 holds the record for the least number of licenses sold with 630. The state has license sale numbers dating back to 1989 and says that on average they sell just over 800 licenses a year. And while there were over 1400 oyster licenses sold this year, that doesn’t mean that there are that many oystermen actively working. Many local people buy the 100 dollar licenses every year as insurance against future unemployment.