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The collapse of the Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery changed a way of life in the Florida Panhandle.

For decades, the bay was renowned for its oyster harvest, an industry that supplied 90% of the oysters in Florida and 10% across the nation. In 2012, those populations collapsed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association issued a disaster declaration the next year, and in 2020, the State of Florida imposed a wild harvest moratorium.

Now, through the work of the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative, or ABSI, there is a plan to help restore one of the country’s great fisheries.

Scientists from Florida State University’s Coastal & Marine Laboratory, or CML, lead ABSI’s work. Research is the foundation of ABSI, but stakeholder engagement is a critical component of the project. The initiative’s Community Advisory Board, or CAB, which includes stakeholders from various groups that rely on the bay, developed a consensus-based restoration and management plan for Apalachicola Bay. Triumph Gulf Coast, an organization established by the Florida Legislature to manage funds from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement, funded the bulk of the work through an $8 million grant. FSU contributed $1.5 million toward the project, with additional support from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

After four years of bi-monthly meetings, in January 2024, the board released the Apalachicola Bay System Ecosystem-Based Adaptive Restoration and Management Plan, which contains a series of recommendations to restore the ecosystem that allowed oysters and the local seafood industry to flourish. The report is now in the hands of state policymakers who can use it to inform future management.

“We hope that this document creates a path for bringing back the Apalachicola Bay ecosystem, including the fishery,” said Sandra Brooke, a CML researcher and ABSI’s principal investigator. “This is a roadmap. If the regulatory agencies take it and continue to interact with the community and continue to listen to the science, there will be a pathway for them to bring back what used to be an incredibly productive and economically and culturally valuable resource.”

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