Winter oyster season opens with big inspection campaign

Fish and wildlife officers opened the winter oyster harvesting season this year with a long inspection campaign of local oyster boats. From September 1st through the 18th, officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission executed a commercial oyster detail in Apalachicola Bay to address the opening of the winter oyster bars. The detail targeted the harvest of undersized oysters. During the detail, 134 vessels were boarded and inspected. The inspections resulted in 23 citations issued for possession of undersized oysters, 12 citations for no saltwater products license and no Apalachicola Bay oyster harvest permit, 3 citations for expired vessel registration, 1 citation for failure to deliver oysters to a dealer within six hours, and 47 written warnings for various resource and boating safety violations. Because there were so many undersized oyster violations, the detail will be continuing for the near future.