APPALACHICOLA, Florida — Seafood workers and oyster harvesters say they are worried about the future of Apalachicola Bay.
The Panama City News Herald reported Saturday that dozens of workers from the oyster industry protested during a Friday meeting of an association created to represent them.
The bay, famed for its oysters, is threatened by both over-harvesting and a water supply dispute with Georgia.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Nick Wiley cautioned that oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay might need to be halted, which could affect thousands of jobs, if newly enacted winter restrictions fail to improve the oyster population.
“It’s very likely that we’re going to have to entertain a possible complete closure of the Apalachicola oyster harvest,” Wiley said during a recent meeting in Kissimmee. “We want to take that very carefully, and only do that if everybody feels that’s what we have to do.”
Read the full story from The Florida Times-Union