There will be a lot more oyster
aquaculture in the Apalachicola Bay in the future.
The state is now only promoting
aquaculture which means leasing out sections of the bay to private
growers.
There has been oyster aquaculture in
Alligator Harbor for years, but now we will start seeing the oyster
farms in other sections of the bay.
County RESTORE coordinator Alan Pierce
said The Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services has restructured
its functions and now only promotes aquaculture.
That means that DACS will no longer
participate in re-shelling the natural bars.
County Commissioner Smokey Parrish said
the state needs to be careful as to how it promotes aquaculture so
that it does not create more conflicts with other users of the Bay.
One of the concerns about oyster
farming is that it uses the entire water column which basically shuts
off that section of bay to fishermen and boaters.
Commissioner Parrish also recommended
that the lease size be limited to 1.5 acres to give local oystermen
an opportunity to get in the aquaculture business and compete.
Parrish said larger leases would likely
be too expensive for local harvesters and would likely be bought up
by outside investors.
The first oyster leases will be in
areas that were first identified in a 1985 survey of the Bay.
That includes some waters near St.
George Island, some sections of the Miles and Green Point.
If you are interested in applying for a
lease, you can get more information on doing that at
freshfromflorida.com
http://live.oysterradio.com/
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