TALLAHASSEE ― More than a decade after the oyster industry collapsed in Northwest Florida’s Apalachicola Bay, state wildlife officials Thursday gave preliminary approval Thursday to in January, with plans to start a recurring seasonal harvest later in 2026.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission supported a month-long opening in January after people in the industry said and can’t wait for the new season to begin in fall 2026. The bay was closed to harvesting in 2020 for what was expected to be five years.

“That’s hard on us, and it’s really not fair. You said five years,” Eastpoint resident Frances Estes told the commission.

Estes said that when the bay closed, the commission “left us out of work.”

“There weren’t but 15 of us left when they closed it down,” Estes said la

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