The old rule about months with an R in them is a folk memory of a real thing: oyster seasons close over the warm months, and in Florida the closure is written into the rules. Health closures sit on top of the season and can shut an area with no notice.
State by state
Each block is one rule as the agency writes it, with the calendar band underneath. Where a state runs the same species on two different calendars — inshore against offshore, one peninsula against the other — both are here, because that is exactly the distinction people get wrong.
Florida FWC
Statewide, outside Apalachicola Bay
The summer closure is the season. Most of the state is shut from July 1 to September 30; Dixie, Levy and Wakulla close a month earlier and reopen a month earlier. Hand or tong only.
- Size
- 3 inches.
- Limit
- Two bags per person or per vessel per day, whichever is less.
Apalachicola Bay
Apalachicola was shut from 2020 and reopened for a two-month winter window under a lottery permit, with a limited number of Apalachicola Bay Recreational Opportunity permits issued to Florida residents. Treat it as an event to apply for, not a season to turn up for.
- Limit
- One harvest tag per permit holder, weekends only.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Louisiana LDWF
Public oyster areas
No date to look up. The Commission opens and closes public areas on biological data.
Tongs or hands only, never at night, and the Department of Health can close an area for public health reasons on top of whatever the season says. Check the health closures, not just the season: they are the ones that will make you ill.
- Size
- 3 inches, hinge to mouth, from public areas. No size limit on a private lease.
- Limit
- Two sacks per person per day, or one sack in the Calcasieu Lake public area.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Hawaii Hawaii DAR
Clams, oysters and other shellfish
The regulation is two words long: "Season closed; taking prohibited." There is no window. Sea cucumbers are limited to ten per person per day for personal use with commercial take banned, and stony coral may not be taken, broken or damaged at all.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Hawaii Division of Aquatic Resources.
How to read these dates
A season date is one of four things, and confusing them is how people end up on the water on the wrong day. Some are fixed and will be the same next year. Some are written as a rule — a weekday rather than a date — and we calculate those for 2026 from the regulation instead of copying a figure that goes stale. Some do not exist until the agency announces them, and no amount of searching will produce next season's date early. And some states simply do not close a season for this species, managing it with sizes and limits instead.
On this page 1 of the rules fall into the last two groups, and their calendar band is left empty on purpose. An empty band means nobody has published a date, which is different from the season being shut — and a page that paints both the same colour is telling you something it does not know.
Questions
When is oyster season?
It depends entirely on the state: Florida is closed july 1 to september 30, Louisiana is set each year by the agency, Hawaii is closed for the rest of the year. There is no national oyster season, and the dates below are the ones each agency publishes.
Can I keep oyster outside the season?
No. Where a season is closed, harvest is closed, and in several states the water stays open for catch-and-release. Sizes and bag limits apply on top of the season and are listed per state above.
Why does this page not give a date for every state?
Because 1 of the rules listed here are not published as dates at all. The agency either sets them each year or regulates the fishery with sizes and limits instead of a calendar. Publishing a made-up window for those would be the easiest thing on this page and the most dishonest.
Compiled and checked by Pablo Ruiz Quintero. Dates move: tell us if one has and it goes in the verification log.