Department of Agriculture will not open summer bars

            The Department of Agriculture will not open any of the summer bars during the winter season.

State legislators made the request this week after oystermen said that opening the summer bars during December could help them earn more money during the Christmas season and possibly catch up on their bills.

The “summer bars” in Apalachicola are traditionally closed to harvesting September 1^st – that date was set based on years of water sampling data. 

Local oystermen are suffering financially because of the poor state of the oyster crop on the winter bars.

The local oyster fishery has been declared a federal disaster because of a number of factors including a lack of fresh water from the river system and increased salinity allowing more predators into the bay.

The Department of Agriculture said they cannot open the summer bars for a number of reasons, including poor water quality, and the potential for illness from oysters harvested from those waters during this time of year.

The Department said there is also the possibility that by extending the summer season could result in Florida being removed from the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference  which would not only be devastating to the Apalachicola shellfish industry but all shellfish harvesting areas in the State of Florida. 

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