A raw oyster grown on the “express” shellevator in Portersville Bay in Coden, Ala. Portersville Bay may open to oyster harvesters this year, depending on interest. Fishermen on Alabama’s coast are gearing up for this fall’s oyster season. But though the forecast shows that the oyster harvest will be comparable to last year’s, it’s a shadow of what the harvest—and the oyster industry—in Alabama used to be.
“We still need to be careful with what we do and how we handle the reefs, and what we allow to be taken off the reefs,” Jason Herrmann, a biologist with the state Marine Resources Division, which monitors the state’s oyster reefs, said during a meeting with oystermen Tuesday in Bayou La Batre.If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.