Oysters
Apalachicola Bay Regulations
Apalachicola Bay includes St. George Sound, East Bay, Apalachicola Bay, and St. Vincent Sound and their canals, channels, rivers and and Indian Lagoon and its canals, channels, rivers and creeks.
Required Licenses and Endorsements
Individual or Crew Saltwater Products License, Shellfish (BV) Endorsement, and Apalachicola Bay (AB) Endorsement
More Information on the AB Endorsement
An AB Endorsement is required for commercial harvest in Apalachicola Bay.
To receive the AB Endorsement for the Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2026, season, an individual must apply through the online Commercial Licensing System on or before Dec. 16, 2025.
To qualify for the AB Endorsement for the Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2026, applicants must have:
- Individual or Crew Saltwater Products License (SPL)
- Shellfish Endorsement (BV)
- Florida as primary state residence
- Prior harvest and sale of wild oysters from Apalachicola Bay between 2012 and 2020
No new AB Endorsements will be issued after the Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2026, season. AB Endorsements are not transferable. AB Endorsements must be renewed annually by June 30 each year. Non-renewed AB Endorsements will be surrendered to the state. Surrendered AB Endorsements will be made available to new applicants in future seasons.
Shellfish Harvesting Training
The Shellfish Harvester Training course is required annually by all commercial oyster harvesters in order to receive or renew a Shellfish Endorsement issued by FWC.
Open Harvest Season: Jan. 1, 2026 – Feb. 28, 2026
Harvest Days: Monday – Friday
FWC will announce the reefs open to harvest each season. To be open, a reef must meet the established ecological threshold of 400 bags of legal-sized oysters per acre.
The reefs that meet the threshold and will be open to harvest for the Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2026, season are RESTORE Peanut Ridge, RESTORE Cat Point Spur, RESTORE Easthole, and NFWF Cat Point.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) may temporarily close the Shellfish Harvesting Area in which FWC’s open reefs are located due to a variety of reasons, including rainfall, higher river levels, and harmful algal blooms. To view the current status of Shellfish Harvesting Areas, visit FDACS Shellfish Harvesting Area Information.
Each season, FWC will announce the annual harvest level for open reefs prior to the start of the season. The annual harvest level will be evenly distributed between AB Endorsement holders.
For the Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2026, season, the annual harvest level for commercial harvest on each open reef will be:
- NFWF Cat Point – 989 bags
- RESTORE Cat Point Spur – 473 bags
- RESTORE Easthole – 2,202 bags
- RESORE Peanut Ridge – 1,030 bags
One bag is equal to two 5-gallon buckets, one 10-gallon bucket, or 60 pounds.
Harvest Tags
Each AB Endorsement holder will be provided harvest bag tags before the start of the season. Harvest bag tags will be assigned to a specific reef. Each harvest bag tag can be used to harvest up to one bag of oysters. The number of bag tags per harvester will vary depending on the number of harvesters and the number of available bags each season. One bag is equal to two 5-gallon buckets, one 10-gallon bucket, or 60 pounds.
Immediately after culling and retaining an oyster, AB Endorsement holder must securely affix a harvest bag tag to each container holding no more than 1 bag of oysters. The harvester may not leave the public reef from which the oyster was harvested unless the harvest bag tag has been affixed to the container holding the oysters.
A harvest bag tag only authorizes harvest from the reef identified on the harvest tag.
A harvest bag tag is not transferable. A person may not sell, purchase, transfer, lease, or exchange an oyster bag tag.
For the Jan. 1 – Feb. 28, 2026, season: AB Endorsement holders must claim their harvest tags in person beginning Dec. 22, 2025, at the FWC Law Enforcement Office (287 Graham Drive, Carrabelle, FL, 32322)
Daily Bag and Vessel Limits
There are no daily bag or vessel limits. Harvesters may use their harvest tags on any commercial harvest day during the open season. Harvest tags may not be used more than once.
The FWC harvest tags do not replace the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) shellfish processor tag and the related requirements from FDACS.
Harvest Tags
Minimum size: 3 inches
Culling: Oysters must be culled over the bar from which they are harvested.
Undersize Tolerances
Tolerance for Attached Oysters: In instances in which culled oysters less than three (3) inches in greatest dimension are attached to legal size oysters such that to separate them would destroy either oyster, no more than 15% of the attached oysters in any bag or equivalent container may be undersized.
Tolerance for Individual, Unattached Oysters: No more than 5% of the oysters in any bag or equivalent container may be undersized.
An AB Endorsement holder must permanently mark the vessel they use for harvest with their AB Endorsement number in legible figures such that it is readily identifiable from the water on both the starboard and port sides of the vessel in numerals no smaller than than 10 inches in height.
AB Endorsement holders must use the FWC Oyster Harvest App to report the following for their harvest trips:
- Hail out when trip begins.
- Harvest location for each bag tag used.
- Hail in when trip ends.
- The wholesale dealer who purchased the harvester’s oysters.
Certified Processors
- Barber’s Seafood (510 US Highway 98, Eastpoint, FL 32328)
- Leavins Seafood Inc. (101 Water St, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
- Leavins Seafood Too (100 Water St, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
- Water Street Seafood (592 West Highway 98, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
- Two Mile Seafood (610 Highway 98 West, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
Boat Ramps and Marinas
- Eastpoint Landing/Patton Drive (340 Patton Drive, Eastpoint, FL 32328)
- Indian Creek North Bayshore Drive (93 North Bayshore Drive, Eastpoint, FL 32328)
- Indian Creek Old Ferry Dock (93 North Bayshore Drive, Eastpoint, FL 32328)
- St. George Island (Bryant Patton Bridge - St. George Island Side, Eastpoint, FL 32328)
- Ten Foot Hole/Battery Park (1 Bay Avenue, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
- Scipio Creek (301 Market Street, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
John B. Meyer Harbor House (479 Market St, Apalachicola, FL 32320) - Seafood Landing Park (628 Highway 98, Apalachicola, FL 32320)
To request a site be added or removed from this list, please contact Marine@MyFWC.com.
Allowed Gear: Harvest by hand or tong only.
The possession of any dredge or mechanical harvesting device other than ordinary hand tongs above any public reef is prohibited.
Statewide Regulations, excluding Apalachicola Bay
Required Licenses and Endorsements
Saltwater Products License and Shellfish (BV) Endorsement
Shellfish Harvesting Training
The Shellfish Harvester Training course is required annually by all commercial oyster harvesters in order to receive or renew a Shellfish Endorsement issued by FWC.
Dixie, Levy and Wakulla counties: Closed June 1 – Aug. 31
Statewide, excluding Dixie, Levy and Wakulla counties and Apalachicola Bay: Closed July 1 – Sept. 1
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) may temporarily close Shellfish Harvesting Areas during the open season due to a variety of reasons, including rainfall, higher river levels, and harmful algal blooms. To view the current status of Shellfish Harvesting Areas, visit FDACS Shellfish Harvesting Area Information.
Daily Bag Limit: Two 60-pound bags per person or vessel, whichever is less.
Minimum size: 3 inches
Undersize Tolerances
Tolerance for Attached Oysters: In instances in which culled oysters less than three (3) inches in greatest dimension are attached to legal size oysters such that to separate them would destroy either oyster, no more than 15% of the attached oysters in any bag or equivalent container may be undersized.
Tolerance for Individual, Unattached Oysters: No more than 5% of the oysters in any bag or equivalent container may be undersized.
Allowed Gear: Harvest by hand or tong only.
The possession of any dredge or mechanical harvesting device other than ordinary hand tongs above any public reef is prohibited.
For the full rule, visit 68B-27, F.A.C.
Shellfish Harvesting Areas
Harvest is allowed only in areas referenced in paragraph 5L - 1.003(1), F.A.C., of the FDACS Comprehensive Shellfish Control Code.
Allowable shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels) harvesting areas are established and managed for public health purposes by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Aquaculture. Shellfish harvesting areas are opened and closed in accordance with the National Shellfish Sanitation Program Guidelines, and the open or closed status applies to both recreational and commercial harvest.
You may view maps of these areas and determine the open or closed status at:https://www.fdacs.gov/Agriculture-Industry/Aquaculture/Shellfish-Harvesting-Area-Classification or Shellfish Harvest Areas Map
- Western Gulf: from Pensacola Bay in Escambia County to East Bay in Bay County
- Central Gulf: from St. Joseph Bay in Gulf County to Wakulla County
- Big Bend Gulf: from Horseshoe Beach in Dixie County to Citrus County
- Southern Gulf: from Boca Ciega Bay in Pinellas County to Ten Thousand Islands in Collier County
- Atlantic Coast: from the Fort Pierce Inlet in St. Lucie County to Duval County
For additional information call 850-617-7600.
Other regulations:
Additional regulations applicable to the harvest, sale, and delivery of oysters established by the Department pursuant to s. 597.020, F.S., may be found in the Comprehensive Shellfish Control Code, Chapter 5L-1, F.A.C.
Commercial shellfish harvesters must abide by all monthly harvest time/temperature regulations pursuant to Rule 5L-1.
Commercial and recreational harvest by any person during the same day is prohibited.
Bycatch from trawling or dragging any gear over a public oyster bar should be returned to the water as closely as possible to the beds where taken and transport and sale of bycatch or oysters taken intentionally is prohibited.
Wholesale and retail dealers may not sell oysters unless they are labeled and traceable to the point of harvest.
Upon leaving an area, harvesters must pass through a monitoring station when in operation. Harvest on leased parcels is subject to the established rules unless otherwise exempted by the approved lease provisions.