All Oyster Zones To Close Today

The Marine Resources Division (MRD) of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) has announced that all public water bottoms will close to the harvest of oysters at 2 p.m. today. Management zones were opened to harvest for 61 days. During that time, nearly 44,000 sacks of oysters, totaling almost 3.7 million pounds with an approximate dockside value of more than $3 million, were harvested. “This season has been very successful and built on the successes of the previous three years,” said Scott Bannon, MRD director. “There was a notable increase in the number of catchers working on the public reefs this season. We anticipated the number of sacks harvested to be nearly equivalent to last season. That is what we have seen this year but with a lot more people reaping the benefits…. Utilizing our harvest grid system, we were able to monitor small areas and appropriately close them for sustainability, while keeping harvesters working more days in other locations. Accurate harvest reporting was a vital part of the season’s length.”