Oyster farmers plan to save the oyster farming industry

Published on 23 March 2022

A new batch of around three million spats (baby oysters) has been growing to restock oysters in the Macleay River after up to 50% were lost as a result of disasters and disease.

Oyster farmers have faced an uphill battle since 2019 due to impacts from natural disasters and disease outbreaks but local oyster farmers and Southern Cross University has been helping boost local oyster numbers. This has been especially important recently as heavy rainfall has affected the local waterway’s quality. 

Oyster farmer and chair of the New South Wales oyster farmer committee Todd Graham along with local oyster farmers came up with the idea to deliver the spats to Back Creek in South West Rocks, to collect water directly from the ocean. At high tide, the oysters are being taken to bask in the saltwater for two hours a day to keep them alive.

Graham reached out to Southern Cross University’s National Marine Science Centre to see if it would be possible for the oyster farmers to take their spats to be put in tanks of clean oceanic water. The university agreed to this, allowing over three million oyster spat to inhabit the facility’s oceanic tanks.

Oysters take three years on average to reach maturity, so ensuring that the spats reach maturity without hardship is a crucial step that ensures the continuation of the oyster farming industry.