The water that flows from the Apalachicola River to Apalachicola Bay has its origin in northern Georgia. Two river systems from Georgia, the Chattachochi and Flint rivers flow into Apalachicola, near the city of Florida in Chattahoah, to form the Apalachicola-Chattahochi-Flint divide (ACF). There are many economic benefits related in the ACF ecosystem for the Panhandle Florida.
The benefits associated with the ACF ecosystem are important to the ecology of the ACF, and even to people living in the ACF region, in terms of their dependence on ecosystem services such as nutrition, clean water and electricity. First of all, the ACF ecosystem is a diverse ecosystem that includes many different animal and plant species. ACF also provides many natural ecosystem services. These ecosystem services are commodities and services produced by the surrounding ecosystem that can be used by people. ACF and all ecosystem services are grouped into four broad categories:
Provision of ecosystem services: The production of food and water derived from the ecosystem.
Regulatory ecosystem services: Climate control and ecosystem diseases.
Ecosystem services support: These are nutrient cycles and pollination of crops produced by the ecosystem.
Cultural ecosystem services: These are the spiritual and recreational benefits gained by the ecosystem.
Therefore, it is important that people do not abuse or pollute the ACF ecosystem. The following is a brief list of ecosystem services created by the ACF ecosystem:
- Irrigation for agriculture
- energy
- Commercial Fishing / Recreation
- forestry
- Drinking water
- Conservation / State Parks
- Biodiversity conservation
Apalachicola contains more than 30 percent of the fresh water that flows into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which is an important factor in that Apalachicola Bay itself is a richly productive estuary. This fact affects the homes of Florida fishermen and other businesses that make a living in the Apalachicola Bay area. In fact, ninety percent of the oysters consumed in Florida and ten percent of all oysters consumed in America come from Apalachicola Bay, according to a report from the city of Apalachicola Florida. Obviously, changing the bay's ecosystem, like a big drought, can potentially destroy the number of oysters collected in Apalachicola Bay. From the point of view of supply and demand, reducing the number of oysters collected will reduce the price of oysters for consumers throughout the country, which will lead to a shortage of the market for oysters. In other words, oyster consumers will pay more for oysters until suppliers can produce more oysters, or at least until a sufficient number of substitutes are provided to oyster consumers.
As stated in the Law on Demand, the higher the price of oysters, the less consumers spend on oysters. Therefore, it is important that environmental factors that have been working for thousands of years are maintained in order to preserve the oyster ecosystem service in Apalachicola Bay.
