10/06/2026
FYI
With the opening last week of a five-month fall and winter season for harvesting a tightly limited amount of oysters from a small section of Apalachicola Bay, watermen have taken a go-slow approach to hauling in the delicacies in advance of the booming holiday season.
“The weather was real nasty so we didn't get in very much stuff,” said Stephanie Barber, whose family owns Barber’s Seafood in Eastpoint, one of the few remaining certified processors remaining in the county allowed to buy and sell commercial product. “A lot of people are waiting until it cools off before they harvest.”
After a five-year moratorium, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regulators reopened portions of Apalachicola Bay for a brief season in January, and then shut it down again in advance of an Oct. 1 opening of what is typically the more robust holiday season. It will remain open on weekdays, for endorsed commercial and permitted recreational harvesters, through Feb. 28, 2027.
This map shows the three reef areas that are currently open for harvest in Apalachicola Bay. [ FWC ]
For more details, see: https://franklincounty.news/2026/10/06/no-rush-to-harvest-oysters-yet/
