Each autumn, the town hosts the Florida Seafood Festival, luring 30,000 people to celebrate the winter harvest season, when oysters are most abundant. In addition, a growing maritime-centered tourism industry and hundreds of historic homes and buildings make Apalachicola an off-the-beaten-path travel destination. Today, shrimp boats, oyster skiffs and wholesale distributors-known locally as seafood houses-dot the town’s waterfront. In the 20th century, however, the local economy anchored itself on one of the world’s most productive estuary systems. 2,337), home to seafood houses where oysters are sorted and packaged for shipment or passed on to shuckers who sell oyster meat by the pint or gallon.Įstablished in 1831, Apalachicola once was the Gulf Coast’s third busiest seaport, fueled by demand for cotton and timber in the 19th century. “We have a good mix of freshwater and saltwater, and that’s why these oysters thrive.”įlorida’s oyster industry is based in the nearby fishing villages of Apalachicola (pop.
Apalachicola oyster spat for sale cracker#
“It’s the best-flavor oyster there is,” says Schoelles, who prefers to eat his raw on a cracker with ketchup and hot sauce.
Located along Florida’s Panhandle, the bay-with 210 square miles of wide shallow water dedicated to oyster harvesting-is the source of about 90 percent of the state’s harvested oysters and 10 percent of oysters sold nationwide. Holding one of more than 1,600 licenses to harvest wild oysters in Apalachicola Bay, Schoelles is among the faithful fishermen who hand-harvest the region’s famous culinary product. You can start to feel where the oysters are growing thicker.” “There’s a whole ’nother world down there,” says Schoelles, a third-generation oysterman, who eventually pulls a mound of oysters to the surface and dumps them into his shallow boat.
Scott on Friday announced the grant that will pay 200 dislocated oystermen for a project to re-shell the bay in the Florida Panhandle to help it recover and re-open to harvesting.Īn insufficient amount of fresh water flowing into the bay due to drought and upstream diversions, as well as over-harvesting, have put the Apalachicola oyster industry into near-collapse.Standing on the edge of his oyster boat as the sun rises over Florida’s Apalachicola Bay, Kendall Schoelles, 52, guides two long-handled tongs into the water and uses the toothy tool to rake the bay’s bottom in search of his catch.
Rick Scott says Florida has obtained a $2.7 million federal grant to provide temporary jobs for beleaguered Apalachicola Bay oystermen. “We’re going to have to start working on something else for the local oystermen,” he added.Īn earlier version of this story is posted below:ĪPALACHICOLA - Gov. “If we don’t figure out with this river, our bay’s going to die out. “If we don’t get fresh water this year, we are going to be struggling for the next few years,” Hartsfield said. Hartsfield has concerns about the future of the bay. “It’s going to be even fewer than what is being processed now.” However, he said, “this will give our bay a break on the seedlings that we have.”Īccording to the news release from the governor’s office, the project will end June 30, 2013. He believes reshelling and relaying will help the bay and get the harvesters working again.īut the process will make it more difficult for restaurants that sell Apalachicola oysters, he added, since the oysters can’t be harvested from the areas during the six-month project.
“It’s what put us where we’re at right now - in a seafood disaster, really,” he added. “Fresh water flow is critical, but just as critical as that, is the right environment for them to grow,” he said.Īccording to Hartsfield, the bay crisis began in 2007 when a drought hit the region, followed by the BP “oil spill scare” and then Tropical Storms Debby and Isaac. Taylor said reshelling and relaying is one necessary step toward restoring the bay.
0 kommentar(er)
