APALACHICOLA — Environmentalists and seafood industry representatives on Wednesday told state wildlife officials that the Apalachicola Bay is at risk of dying as an estuary without fresh water and help in two years.
Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been fighting in federal court over water since 1990. With a lack of freshwater flow, saltwater predators have moved into Apalachicola Bay, wiping out the oysters that provide seafood worker jobs.
"If we don't find some way to get Atlanta to release water this time next year, we won't be worrying about this bay," Shannon Hartsfield, a fourth-generation seafood worker told the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We'll be worrying about feeding families."
"We are already struggling," he said, choking with emotion. "The disaster is coming."
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