Posted October 17, 2013
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam H. Putnam and the Florida Cabinet voted unanimously to approve additional aquaculture leases, primarily in Apalachicola Bay, according to a WMBB news story, available here.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has partnered with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the leases have a minimal impact on public navigation, recreational opportunities, and environmental health.
Commissioner Putnam said, “While we support efforts to protect Florida’s unique wild oyster harvest in Apalachicola, we’re excited about the opportunity to grow Florida’s oyster industry with the approval of additional water column leases…The use of water columns will benefit the local economy, which has been devastated by the decline in the wild oyster population, and increase the total value of Florida’s oyster industry.”
The lease approval by the Cabinet has caused some controversy, according to a News Herald article available here. The Commission voted to approve a 2-acre, 10-year aquaculture lease located in the St. George Sound, which is part of the Apalachicola Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to Andrew Arnold.
Alan Pierce, a Franklin County official, said, “We didn’t want any leases …to interfere with the traditional harvesting of oysters in the bay, the traditional uses of the bay.”
The Franklin County Board sent a letter of support for the lease in 2011, which followed with a letter on August 8. The letter “mentions the Arnold Lease, but it’s unclear whether it supports the lease or is making an exception for the lease while expressing opposition to a larger aquaculture lease program.” The previous plan was for about 100 2-acre lease sites separated into four zones in the bay.
Florida Agriculture Department spokeswoman, Erin Gillespie, said there was a “bit of confusion” and that the letter was “speaking only about the 100 leases, not the” recently approved leases.
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