Apalachicola Case Study Reflection

Community resiliency has to do with how well a community can come back and repair itself from a large obstacle or an event that causes a change in the community. Apalachicola experienced this when the oysters began to get smaller in size and numbers. The change in size and population scared the public from eating seafood from the area while hurting business for oystermen. This caused the major economic industry in the area to go through a hardship. Coming back from that is what will measure how resilient of a community Apalachicola is.

Climate variability (salinity changes), public perception of seafood from the area, and decrease in reproduction amongst oysters impacted the oyster industry in Apalachicola. …show more content…
Oystermen were forced to compete with friends and neighbors for the limited supplies of oysters. With the decrease in size and reproduction, oystering became harder. What oyster men were able to tong would not necessarily be the size they could legally take. Oystermen lost profits. Many oystermen and their families did not have back up plans. Restaurants faced impact when the crisis happened. With a limited supply of oysters and other seafood prices for these items were increasing. Meanwhile, customers were concerned with the safety of eating oysters from the area because of the perception that Gulf oysters and other seafood could be contaminated after the spill. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services was impacted as well. Many within the government had to learn how to communicate to the public, the oystermen, the restaurant owners, and others. Officials were trying to help oystermen who were skeptical to change their tactics of tonging. On top of this, officials needed to find ways to help the industry and the area recover from lost business as well as the community to be