Number of Apalachicola Bay oyster harvesting licenses sold is down for the 5th year

Almost 100 fewer oyster harvesting licenses were sold this year than last – continuing a 5 year downward trend.

The Department of Agriculture sold 1172 oyster harvesting licenses this year – that’s down from 1267 last year and over 1560 in 2013.

The highest number of licenses ever sold was in 2010 – the year of the BP oil spill – when 1898 licenses were purchased – the sales period was extended by two months in 2010 because of the oil spill.

One number that is not decreasing is the number of people who wait until the last day to buy their license.

Even though the licenses went on sale in mid-May, nearly 20 percent of the licenses were sold on June 30th.

And while there were nearly 1200 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.

http://live.oysterradio.com/