Weekend commercial oyster harvesting is over till next May

Commercial oyster harvesting in the Apalachicola Bay will close on the weekends beginning November the 23rd.

The closure is automatic any time its found that oyster bars can’t survive a harvest of 300 bags per acre.

This year’s assessment has shown that oyster population numbers are fewer than 200 bags per acre of legal sized oysters on East Hole Bar and fewer than 225 bags per acre at Cat Point.

The automatic closure was put in place in the mid-1980s after several hurricanes hit the bay and acts as a method to limit harvest and give oysters time to recover from low population numbers.

The Apalachicola Bay Oyster industry is currently facing a fishery failure because of a number of factors including a lack of fresh water from the Apalachicola River and increased salinity in the bay.

Apalachicola Bay includes all waters within St. George Sound, East Bay, Apalachicola Bay, St. Vincent Sound in Franklin County and Indian Lagoon in Gulf County.

The change does not apply to active oyster leases or recreational harvest.

The weekend closure will remain in effect through May 31^st.

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