About 50 oyster workers and dealers attended a public hearing Monday to comment on new time and temperature rules that could impact the local oyster industry beginning this summer.
The state is under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration to lower the already very low number of people who become sick from Vibrio vulnificus which lives naturally in Gulf waters and in Gulf oysters.
Vibrio has no effect on healthy individuals but can kill people with liver disease or with compromised immune systems.
On average about 7 people a year get sick from oysters harvested in Florida and 3 of them die.
Nationwide the number is about 30 people a year.
Under the proposed rules, local oystermen will see their daily work hours cut substantially, but at the same time could be allowed to work 7 days a week year-round to make up for some of the loss.
If the rule are approved, and they likely will be, oystermen who harvest oysters that will be served raw will have to be off the water by 1 o’clock in April, May, October and November – though there is a chance that the November rule could be loosened to let oystermen work till 3.
They will have to be off the water by noon in June and September and by 11 AM in July and August.
From December through March oystermen will be allowed to work until dark.
And once the oystermen are at the dock – they will have an hour to get their product into a certified dealers cooler.
Local oyster dealers will have to make sure their cooling systems are able to cool oysters to 55 degrees within 5 hours of receiving them.
While most oystermen seemed to think that they will be able to make a living under the new rules – no one is very happy with the proposals.
Many oystermen said they would rather work at night then have to deal with the ever growing number of rules that the Department of Agriculture is being forced to create.
Oystermen pointed out that working at night would not only keep the oysters cooler but would also be better for the harvesters themselves who have currently have to work in the hot summer sun.
The Division of Aquaculture said it will consider night oystering in the future – but right now the new time and temperature rules are what’s on the table.
Public comment on the proposed rules will be allowed through June the 3rd and the rules will likely become law in late summer.
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