OYSTER CULTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 268, 12 November 1928, Page 6

OYSTER CULTURE.

Mr. Hefford (Chief Inspector of Fisheries) in his article on October 22 said that oysters on trays are something new, but he is only correct as far as Auckland is concerned. The tray system has been in use in almost every country; Australia adopted it over ten years ago. Used in conjunction with the stake system it long ago superseded the rock culture. Mr. Hefford's statement that it had been definitely established that on a tray an oyster grew to a marketable size in a year is most misleading. One would understand from it that from spat to maturity an oyster in a tray would take twelve months. The facts are that where oysters are too near highwater mark they do not thrive, while placed in trays close to low water they do well, but their age is three to four years old, possibly five or six. It has been pointed out more than once that Auckland has an immense supply of these stunted oysters which could be made use of as well as exceptionally-favoured localities. To place trays in the upper reaches of our tidal creeks would be most suitable. It has been proved that oysters thrive very much better where there is a supply of fresh water. Where the sea is over-saline the oyster runs too much to shell. Mr. Hefford's statement that in New South Wales the process was to catch the spat on stakes and when the oysters formed to transfer them to trays is ridiculous. The system as carried out in New South Wales, a method which has been copied from Japan, is to make pyramids of about one hundred stakes in a suitable locality. After the spat has taken these stakes are separated, about two feet apart, in which position they remain until the oyster is ready for market in about three to three and a-half years. The oysters are then stripped from the stakes, and any undersized ones are placed in trays. The reason for placing the stakes in a pyramid form is that tlte oyster" spat takes better on the inside. At Port Stephens you can see many miles of fields of oyster-bearing stakes, and the production from that one port alone under State cultivation increased from 3444 sacks in 1918 to 10,381 in 1924. Oyster cultivation in New South Wales is a private industry employing about five hundred men. The waterfront is leased from the Government at a small rental. In 1918 the value of oysters produced was £53,000; in 1925 it was £85,000. The history of the Auckland oysters is very similar to that of New South Waies. There, in the early days, the oysters in their natural state were sufficient to supply the population. As the population grew the oyster supply gradually dwindled. This would also happen here under the present management. It is only the latent and wonderfiil natural vigour of our Auckland beds which has caused them to last so long. The Government of New South Wales in 1884 recognised the position and allowed private cultivation. Many forms of cultivation were experimented with. In the early years forming beds and stocking with small oysters and the rock culture were the most popular, but for the last ten years the stake cultivation in conjunction with trays has superseded, all others, the trays being also filled with mangrove and Port Hacking oysters. In Port Hacking the oysters, which are very numerous, never grow to any size on account of the salinity of the water, but when transferred to tidal rivers, where there is a certain amount of fresh water, they do well. The industry had many setbacks, but all troubles have now more or less been got over, and the industry is to-day in a very flourishing condition. Our Government is now experimenting; surely it would be infinitely better to send a competent man over to Australia and take advantage of their proved success. Auckland has an immensely valuable asset in its oysters, and the people are to blame for not insisting that the Government develop the industry, or, in the alternative, allow private individuals to dp so. The only cultivation that the Government : has done within the last four years is to build some mile or so of 6tone wall, a method that was out of date five years before they-started. -—HAROLD C, BULL.