Since 1970, oyster populations have declined by 90%, faced with new diseases, extreme weather, and increased exposure to predators. Despite increased threats, the oyster harvest rules in the Big Bend region have remained the same since 1991, until now.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, hosted three Oyster Management and Regulation workshops sessions from August to September, gauging opinions on potential updates to oyster harvest rules in the Big Bend region. Climate change and other factors have caused declines in oyster populations off the Gulf Coast, prompting the FWC to seek updated regulations. But local harvesters have started to voice their concerns.
At its Sept. 3 meeting at the UF/IFAS Extension Levy County in Bronson, the FWC assessed attendees’ responses to a variety of options, including changes to the season, daily bag limits and license requirements. The commission hopes to implement uniform changes across the Big Bend region by 2027. FWC declined to be interviewed for this story, but offered a written statement.
“We cannot yet speak to what the updated oyster harvest regulations will look like, as we are still gathering feedback from stakeholders in the region and will be developing our recommendations based on the state of the resource using their input,” wrote Pebbles Causseaux, communications coordinator for the Division of Marine Fisheries Management.
Oysters are facing new threats
Peter Frederick, a former UF professor, first began surveying oyster populations on the Gulf Coast around the same time as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. Worried that oil would reach them soon, he and his colleague Bill Pine picked up their pace.
“The oil never came, which was great, but in any event, that turned into a long-term survey,” Frederick said.
The surveys became the Lone Cabbage Oyster Reef Restoration Project, which resulted in the recovery of a three-mile-long chain of oyster reefs. Frederick’s project remains the largest successful oyster restoration project in Florida.
There are a variety of factors impacting oyster populations, Frederick said. Increased salt levels, or salinity, in the water place stress on oysters, making them more susceptible to predators. Human overuse of freshwater is also limiting oysters’ access to the resource, causing boosts in salinity.
Shell budget is also a challenge. Oyster spat, or larvae, attach to niches in a base substance called culch. As oysters are harvested, culch is gradually reduced, flattening the base and removing the niches important for defense from predators. Once culch gets below a certain level, oysters might be stuck in anoxic zones, where they lose access to oxygen and nutrients. Frederick refers to the amount of base for oysters to attach to as shell budget.
“If you harvest more than 5% of the oysters on a reef, you will have negative shell budget,” he said. “Five oysters out of 100, that’s not very many oysters. And for somebody who’s trying to harvest them and make money, that’s a ridiculously small amount.”
Restoration is possible, but it requires lower harvest, building beds and allowing for positive water conditions. Frederick also emphasized the importance of long-term tracking, even after a restoration project is complete.
But Frederick understands it’s no small task. Lone Cabbage cost $3 million to restore, and data collected in 2023 shows that the oyster population has continued to grow since the restoration in 2018.
For him, promoting restoration and a better understanding of what factors are threatening oysters should be the priority.
“We can do this, but it’s going to require a lot more than harvest regulations,” Frederick said. “Harvest regulations are the first thing everybody turns to. It’s something that we’re already set up to do, and it doesn’t cost a lot.”
Proposed changes vary
Currently, Florida requires commercial oyster harvesters to have a Saltwater Products License and a Shellfish Endorsement. Each person or vessel, depending on which is a lower amount, can harvest 20 bags each per day. A bag is equal to two 5-gallon buckets or 60 pounds.
Recreational harvesters only need a saltwater fishing license and can collect up to two bags per person or vessel each day.
The minimum legal size for an oyster is three inches, but the FWC’s current regulations allow attached undersized oysters to account for 15% of the bag. Unattached undersized oysters can only make up 5% of the bag.
The current harvest season runs from September through May in Dixie and Levy County, while Citrus County has its season from October to the end of June.
Following their presentation, the FWC conducted a survey of attendees, where 12 respondents described themselves as commercial harvesters and five as wholesale dealers. Of those who participated in the survey, 73% had over ten years of experience harvesting oysters in Florida.
The FWC also proposed introducing commercial endorsements, similar to one implemented in Apalachicola Bay following the collapse of its fishery in 2013. Commercial oyster harvesters must have an Apalachicola Bay Endorsement to collect in the region.
When asked how commercial participants should be limited in the Big Bend region, 65% of attendees voted that there should be no limit, and that the commercial harvest should be open to all qualified applicants.
Big Bend residents respond
As the FWC wrapped up their survey and opened the meeting for public comment, Big Bend residents voiced their concerns with the regulations. Like Frederick, many residents were skeptical that regulations are the solution to oyster declines.
Others felt that the FWC and other organizations have not done enough to factor in the perspectives of local oystermen. Tim Hodge and Desiree Mills serve on the Levy County Board of County Commissioners and attended the meeting to discuss the shellfish industry in their area. Clams and oysters are crucial to Levy County fishermen, they said.
“This is important. It’s very important to them,” Mills said. “This is how they buy groceries, and I just would like to see a little more cooperation. I’m hoping you guys (FWC) are listening.”
Levy County is currently restoring Corrigan’s Reef in Cedar Key as part of a $1.9 million project called Oyster ROCKS. Laura Adams, who attended FWC’s workshop as a representative for the project, advocated for including oystermen in the decision making process at the Sept. 3 meeting.
“We’ve already made progress with the restoration projects,” she said. “The oystermen should be included in the decisions, and then a year from now, we get together, we talk about the monitoring and the restoration projects all together, and make a plan from there.”