The oil from the Deepwater Horizon oilpocalypse has already reached the most westerly part of Florida's panhandle in the Pensacola area, and is now threatening the entire northern Gulf Coast of Florida.
Most people are familiar with the beautiful beaches of much of the Gulf coast of Florida, in particular, the stunning Emerald Coast along the north Florida Gulf Coast from Panama City Beach west. The Emerald Coast is a popular vacation haven. Kristina40's beautiful diary captures the incredible visual wonder of the Emerald Coast.
This diary is about how this oil threatens another very important area of the north Florida Gulf coast, Florida's Forgotten Coast, and in particular, the Apalachee Bay. (Excellent picture in the Forgotten Coast link)
The Forgotten coast is mostly rural and lightly populated. The largest town in this area is Apalachicola, the county seat for Franklin County. The main highway through the area is US Highway 98. Until around 2004, there were no stoplights in all of Franklin County. Now there is just one.
Apalachicola is a quaint and historic small town of about 2,500 or so people located on the west side of the mouth of the Apalachicola River. The main industry in Apalach, as the locals call it, is seafood. It is often said that Apalach is what Key West was before it became Key West. A combination of luck and location has allowed Apalachicola to maintain much of its historic architecture and character. Many shots of its downtown were used in the 1997 movie, Ulee's Gold for which Peter Fonda was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor.
Across a bridge and causeway system to the east of Apalachicola lies the small community of Eastpoint. Eastpoint is the home of the oystermen and most of the seafood packing houses. Eastpoint is on the mainland and is the connecting point for the four mile long bridge connecting to St. George Island on the south. Between Eastpoint and St. George Island is the main area of the Apalachee Bay for the oyster beds.
The Apalachee Bay is protected from the Gulf by several islands. They are from west to east: St. Vincent Island which is a National Wildlife Refuge, Cape St. George which is owned by the state of Florida and is uninhabited, St. George Island which is the largest island and a vacation spot, and Dog Island, a private island.
St. George Island, at 28 miles in length, is the largest of the four barrier islands that form a protective barrier for the Apalachee Bay. Originally Cape St. George was a part of St. George Island, but in 1954, the Army Corps of Engineers cut the western portion off to put in a channel (Bob Sikes Cut) that would allow shrimpers and deep sea fishing boats faster and safer access to the Gulf. Cape St. George is now uninhabited and owned by the state of Florida as a preserve. All of these barrier islands are nesting grounds for large sea turtles.
Because of these protective islands, its shallow depth, and the constant steady stream of fresh water flowing out of the Apalachicola River into it, the Apalachee Bay is a very productive body of water for all sorts of seafood, but mainly for oysters and crabs. The Apalachicola River is fed by the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers and has been the subject of water wars between Florida, Alabama, and Georgia. The Apalachicola River is the lifeblood for the Bay. If flow into the Apalachicola is restricted by Alabama on the Flint River or Georgia on the Chattahoochee River, it negatively affects the oyster beds.
The Apalachee Bay produces 90% of all Florida oysters and over 10% of all oysters nationwide. Being an oysterman is not an easy life. It is very dependent upon conditions of the water which can cause some or all of the Bay to be shut down for periods of time. The oystermen are independent contractors who sell their daily harvest to one of the seafood houses where the oysters are processed and shipped out to retail outlets and restaurants. Oystering is mostly a generational occupation that has been in the family for multiple generations.
Harvesting of oysters in Texas and Louisiana is mostly done by trawlers and drag lines. But not so in the Apalachee Bay. All harvesting is done by hand using twelve foot long tongs. The oystermen work off a specially built plywood boat about 20 feet long. The boat is usually flat bottomed and wide with a broad shelf along the sides where the tonger stands. In the front of the boat is large board for culling undersized oysters from each tongful. Usually an oyster boat will have two people working on it. One will tong for the oysters while the second person culls them on the culling board in the front of the boat. In order to be legal, oysters must measure at least three inches in length. Any oysters smaller than that are culled from the group and thrown back in the water to continue to grow until they reach legal size.
Oystering is very hard work and no one gets rich being an oysterman. It is a lifestyle that appeals to people who fiercely guard their independence, but it is also a lifestyle that has severe economic ups and downs. As I close this diary, I am going to link this blog that really captures the life of an oysterman on the Apalachee Bay.
The Apalachee Bay may be on the Forgotten Coast of Florida, but it is so very important as one of the most productive seafood areas in the country and Florida's main suppler of oysters.