Commissioner Mark Williams has announced that Georgia's territorial waters will remain closed to commercial and recreational oyster harvest effective 6:00 a.m., Monday, October 1, 2018 until conditions warrant reopening.  Since 2008, the Commissioner of Natural Resources has closed the salt waters of this State to the commercial and recreational harvest of oysters for human consumption from June through September of every year to address management requirements. Due to higher than average water temperatures coastwide for the month of September, an extension of the existing closure will be implemented to allow for water temperatures to decrease below the control plan threshold of 81-degrees.

The Coastal Resources Division (CRD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources recently deployed ~3,000 tons of concrete and metal materials, donated by multiple partners, as an enhancement to Artificial Reef DRH – located 15 nautical miles east of Little St. Simons Island, Georgia. This is the first deployment completed at DRH Reef since October 2012.