PANACEA, Fla. (WTXL) -- Oysters along the Forgotten Coast have been slowly dying since the 80s but a group of local ranchers is turning the tide with an aquaculture program.
CEO of Panacea Oyster Co-op, Rob Olin, is a Panacea local and he's been involved with the Wakulla Environmental Institute's Oyster Aquaculture Program since it started four years ago.
The program teaches people how to raise and farm oysters, in turn, getting the Apalachee Bay back where it once was.
"Part of this bay is named Oyster Bay and there's no live oysters here, until we got here. And that's why we started," said Olin.
Olin says 85 percent of the oyster beds in the world are gone. In Florida, it's closer to 95 percent.
When the 2010 oil spill sent the seafood industry into panic, bays were open and unregulated to harvest. Almost all the oysters were taken, leaving little behind for the future.
That's why a group of locals pioneered the largest coastal resurrection project in Florida.
"There's probably a good eight and a half to ten million oysters out there in Apalachee Bay right now doing the aquaculture program," said Olin. "All giving back to the water, so it can generate new life for the other 3,000 species the keystone oyster is responsible for."
Nowadays, guys like Olin are raising oysters in the bay, not just taking them.
Ranchers set up special baskets on the surface of the water. In six months, seed oysters transform into successful harvests.
Olin says in Apalachee Bay oysters grow faster than anywhere else in the world. A batch he pulled out of the water has been harvesting in long-ling hanging baskets for five months.
There's a reason people say these are the best tasting oysters around. They're sweet, but salty, fresh, and they taste just like the ocean.
Olin says oyster reefs act as filters in the water ecosystem, providing food and habitat to 2,000 species. They're also barriers to storms and tides, preventing erosion in coastal areas.
"We have some of the most fertile waters in the world right here in our state," said Olin. "If we go and put the filters back in the aquarium, along our coast, and resurrect our coast, we can become again the sea basket for the rest of the country."
Olin says, the current projects in Leon and Wakulla Counties to eliminate septic tanks will greatly help protect our water bodies, creating clear waters for generations to come.
