There's nothing quite like a Florida oyster.

They're bigger and more succulent here than just about anywhere else, but now, they could be in jeopardy of going extinct.



State lawmakers, however, might have the power to help avoid that fate.

If Voc Visa looks like a happy man, he says it's because he's just eaten four dozen Florida oysters. It's a lunchtime routine he wouldn't trade for anything.



"They're very good, very delicious," said Visa. "I don't want to see anything happen to the oysters."



But, something's already happening. So far, this season's oyster harvest is well below normal levels.



"We may be looking at the end of an industry," said Shannon Hartsfield, a fourth-generation oysterman, earning his keep on the waters of Apalachicola Bay, the source of 90 percent of Florida oysters.



They thrive on fresh water flowing down the Apalachicola River, and when they don't have it, they begin to die off. The last tough year was in 2007, during a drought.



"I still made around $40,000," said Hartsfield. "This past year, I'm down to, like, maybe $17,000. You know, and if I was younger, I couldn't survive."



In the oyster business, you've got good years and you've got bad years. But this past one has been without comparison, and from the industry on the coast to your local bar, the fallout could be tremendous.



Ecologists say the fresh water flowing down the Apalachicola River is currently just 10 percent of what it used to be at its peak. They also think Florida oysters are having a hard time recovering from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.



Marine biologists say without more fresh water, Apalachicola oysters could disappear. That's why lawmakers are meeting to figure out how to get Georgia to use less water, so that we have more of it downstream.



"We know what the problem is: It's a lack of flow of water. It's real simple," said state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee.



If talks with Georgia don't work out, Florida could sue.

For now, Voc Visa has a simple message: "Hey, y'all need to open up them dams and rivers and let that water flow."

After all, Voc's lunch -- and Hartsfield's livelihood -- could depend on it.