Local officials call on Florida lawmakers to fund Apalachicola Bay's oyster restoration
Franklin County Commissioners are pleading with state lawmakers to include the governor's proposed funding for the bay in their final budget, as negotiations are delayed over tax relief.
Local officials along the “Forgotten Coast” are worried that the next state budget won’t include enough money to help reverse major declines in Apalachicola Bay’s oyster stock.
“This funding is crucial,” said Franklin County Commissioner Otis Amison, who’s spoken with state wildlife officials about the need for tens of millions of dollars over the next year to deposit rocks that oysters can latch onto as they grow.
“You’ve got to have material in there to grow these oysters,” Amison added. “Without that, then this is nothing but a sand bar out there, and oysters don't grow on sand.”
For generations, wild oyster harvesting was a key economic driver in Apalachicola and the surrounding communities, and local residents say the activity is part of their culture and heritage. But the bay has been off-limits to catching wild oysters for nearly five years, as state wildlife officials work to rebuild its habitat.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has asked state lawmakers to set aside $19.5 million in the upcoming fiscal year’s budget — which takes effect on July 1 — to expedite work on rebuilding oyster reefs across most of the bay. Additionally, the agency wants permission to spend $10 million in National Wildlife Federation funds on those efforts.
Altogether, wildlife officials estimate the cost of restoring and maintaining the bay’s oyster population is between $30 million - $55 million annually.
DeSantis and legislative leaders are at odds over bay funding
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s proposed budget would ensure $30 million in state and federal funds would go toward oyster restoration in Apalachicola Bay, but spending plans approved by the state House and Senate don’t include the entire amount.
“The governor has been a huge supporter of the Apalachicola Bay,” said Amison, who has expressed disappointment in legislative leaders for not matching DeSantis’s spending proposal.
“I just feel like we’re going to wind up being the collateral damage of some infighting that's going on, and it's a shame because we were really headed in a great direction.”
Instead, the Senate’s more than $117 billion spending plan would allocate $5 million for “oyster restoration and recovery,” but it doesn’t specify which estuaries would benefit from the funds.
The House’s proposal — which totals more than $112 billion — includes no funding for oyster restoration efforts.
It’s unclear when the legislature is going to pass a final budget to send to the governor, as legislative leaders haven’t yet reached an agreement on tax policy and spending amounts. The deadline to pass a budget before the session ends on Friday has already passed, and formal budget negotiations haven’t yet begun.
“Until all that gets handled, I don’t think we’ll know anything,” said Franklin County Commissioner Jessica Varnes Ward.
It’s likely lawmakers will reconvene in a special session sometime before the June 30 deadline to enact a budget before the July 1 fiscal year begins.
In the meantime, local elected officials in Franklin County are hoping to receive good news about funding for oyster restoration in the bay.
In April, county commissioners approved sending a letter to lawmakers, requesting that they add the nearly $20 million to their final budget before sending it to the governor.
Bay reopening is set to happen next year, as work on restoration continues
Meanwhile, local residents have been anxiously awaiting the state’s reopening of the bay to oyster harvesting, which is scheduled for Jan. 1, 2026.
“They felt the best thing to do would be to shut down the bay,” said Varnes Ward, referring to state officials. “That put a lot of people in our community out of jobs and put a strain on our economy.”
Though the bay is scheduled to reopen at the start of next year, oysters aren’t yet thriving like they were there more than a decade ago, explained Devin Resko, an FWC biologist, at a wildlife commission meeting in February.
In Florida, estuaries have lost 80-90% of their oyster fisheries, he said. The use of oyster shells for driveways and parking lots and unsustainable harvesting practices are two major factors contributing to the decline, he said.
Historically, ninety percent of the state’s wild caught oysters — and 10% nationwide — came out of the bay. But since 2013, its waters has seen a “dramatic loss of oysters,” he added. “This system will not recover without intervention through successful restoration.”