Guide
Oysters: the season, the grids and the closures
Checked September 30, 2026 against Alabama’s administrative code, the Marine Resources Division and the Department of Public Health.
Nobody in Alabama publishes one answer to “can I take oysters today.” Three agencies each decide a piece of it, so the Oysters tile puts the three together, and says Open only when all three allow it.
1. The law’s calendar
Alabama’s rule 220-3-.15 closes all public oyster bottoms from May 1 through September 30. In the rest of the year harvest is weekdays, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and only after Marine Resources has opened it. Outside those hours the tile says Closed.
2. Marine Resources: the season and the grids
The Marine Resources Division (MRD) of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources opens each season with an announcement, usually in September for the first Monday of October, and closes it the same way. It has opened the reefs off Cedar Point, Heron Bay and Portersville Bay in recent seasons; the eastern bay reefs have not been opened since at least 2023.
- Within the season, MRD opens and closes grids, half-kilometre squares, from day to day. It posts those changes at its Oyster Management Stations and on its social media, not as announcements. Its grid map is the one record of them, and the tile counts the open grids in each harvest area from that map.
- If the grid map has not been updated since the season opened, the tile says Check: it cannot tell which grids are open.
- MRD closes “on selected federal holidays” and does not list which, so on a federal holiday in the season the tile says Check.
- Every harvester checks in at an Oyster Management Station before going out. The primary station is across from Jemison’s Bait and Tackle on the Dauphin Island Parkway in Coden.
3. The Health Department: closures after rain
The Department of Public Health (ADPH) classifies the growing waters and closes the conditionally approved ones when rain, a sewage discharge or bad samples make oysters unsafe. It announces each closure and reopening as a news release.
| Area | Reefs | Class | Beside |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Cedar Point, Heron Bay, Dauphin Island Bay | Conditionally approved | Dauphin Island, Coden |
| II | Portersville Bay | Conditionally approved | Coden, Bayou La Batre |
| VII | Grand Bay | Conditionally approved | Bayou La Batre |
| III | Bon Secour Bay, Navy Cove | Conditionally approved | Bon Secour, Magnolia Springs, Fort Morgan, Gulf Shores |
| I-(I) | Point Clear Reef | Managed as prohibited | Point Clear, Fairhope |
| IV, V, VI | The upper and west bay | Prohibited, restricted | Mobile, Daphne, Fairhope |
- A closure gives a date, not a time, so the tile counts it closed from the start of that day. A reopening gives the time it took effect.
- The releases are not a complete record. Some closures were never posted, and some reopenings were never posted either. So the tile holds a release for four months at most, and where the Health Department’s last word and Marine Resources’ map disagree, it says Check rather than picking one.
- The Health Department’s plan also closes the conditionally approved areas when the Mobile River reaches 8 feet at Barry Steam Plant. When the river gauge is at or over 8 feet in the season, the tile says Check.
- Prohibited and restricted waters are never open to harvest; restricted waters can only be relayed under permit. The Gulf, Perdido Bay, Wolf Bay and Little Lagoon are unclassified, and no shellfish may be taken there.
Who to call
- ADPH Seafood Branch, Mobile: 251-433-2428, the number on every closure and reopening.
- Marine Resources, Dauphin Island: 251-861-2882, for the season, the grids and licenses.
Sources
- Alabama Administrative Code, chapter 220-3 — the closed season and harvest hours
- Marine Resources Division, oyster harvest — the grid map
- Marine Resources Division, saltwater news — season openings and closings
- Alabama Department of Public Health, seafood and shellfish — growing area classification
- Alabama Department of Public Health, news releases — closures and reopenings
- National Weather Service, Mobile River at Barry Steam Plant