Oyster, clam farmers suffer after Hurricane Michael shuts down harvest
Residents of Florida's Panhandle and Big Bend are still picking up the pieces following Hurricane Michael's historic rampage. Homes have been flattened to the ground, debris litters the area, trees are uprooted and businesses are feeling Michael's hit.
Peak oyster season is right around the corner, starting in November; however, the recent destruction of Hurricane Michael is impacting aquaculture farms in Florida.
Shellfish growers are working diligently to recover gear and assess damages in the Panhandle and Big Bend areas.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission ordered all farms to stop harvesting on Oct. 9 before Michael struck.
John Stokes, center, culls Apalachicola oysters while his two sons Ryan, left, and Wesley Stokes tong oysters from the bottom of Apalachicola Bay. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser, File)
The lab that conducts the water clarity tests that are required for aquaculture farmers is located in Apalachicola which was also hammered by the historic hurricane.
According to CNBC, agricultural damage from Hurricane Michael as a whole is forecast to top $1.3 billion.
Southern Cross Sea Farm in Cedar Key, Florida, said for the most part everything looks okay; however, it is hard for them to tell the full extent until they harvest in one year.
Not only did Hurricane Michael impact harvesting, the storm also postponed the 2018 Panacea Oyster Festival.
Florida wasn't the only area that was ordered to stop harvesting. Shellfish harvesting beds closed due to Michael in Beaufort County, South Carolina, only days after being reopened following Hurricane Florence.
The Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) closed the Wallace Creek shellfish harvesting beds on Oct. 12 due to the possibility of bacteria in the water.
"This closure affects all shellfish harvesting in the Conditional Management Area of Wallace Creek," Manager of DHEC's Shellfish Sanitation Section Mike Pearson said.
According to Pearson, the harvesting area will reopen when water quality data indicate that bacteria levels are once again suitable for shellfish harvesting.
"Having seen firsthand some of the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Michael, I know that farmers will need all the help they can get to recover," Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said.
"In addition to crop insurance, USDA has a variety of programs to assist producers," Perdue said.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently launched a disaster assistance discovery tool through the website Farmers.gov that walks producers through five questions to help them identify personalized results of which USDA disaster assistance programs can help them recover after a natural disaster.
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