Over 1560 people bought Apalachicola Bay oyster harvesting licenses this year

Over 1560 Apalachicola Bay oyster harvesting licenses were sold by the Department of Agriculture this year.

It’s a slight decline from last year when the state sold 1686 licenses.

The highest number of licenses ever sold was in 2010 – the year of the BP oil spill – when 1893 licenses were purchased.

They did break one record this year.

304 licenses were sold last Friday, the last day the licenses could be purchased without paying a late fee, and that is a one day sales record.

And while there were nearly 1600 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.

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