The Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources voted recently to open the State’s oyster season beginning Monday, Oct. 3.
The reefs in the western portion of the Mississippi Sound will be open to tonging and dredging. The daily sack limit is 25 for dredgers and 15 for tongers.
MDMR scientists estimate nearly 80,000 sacks of oysters survived a series of mortality events in August in the western Sound. Commissioners voted to establish a harvest quota not to exceed 35 percent, nearly 28,000, for this year’s oyster season.
Commissioners also voted unanimously to place a moratorium on license sales for oyster harvesting, which became effective with the vote. The moratorium applies to recreational and commercial licenses.
License sales are limited to those fishermen who purchased a commercial or recreational oyster license from March of 2015 through April of 2016. Also, if the commercial vessel were damaged or lost, the license can be transferred to the new vessel.
For more information, visit dmr.ms.gov.
source: Mississippi Department of Marine Resource