APALACHICOLA, Fla., – Drought, a massive oil spill, a tropical storm and the state’s long-running water war with a neighboring state have combined to put the Florida Panhandle seafood industry in crisis, threatening the $6.6 million seafood industry – and for many people here, a way of life.
The oyster harvest this year is historically bad, putting nearly half the Franklin County workforce at risk – 2,500 jobs, including the oystermen who work the bay, and related workers in the seafood houses lining the river and shoreline here.
The fate of the bay here – unlike so many others largely unspoiled by vacation development, could be hanging in the balance.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment for this critically important community,” said Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. “This is not a short-term crisis.”
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