AN OYSTER'S LIFE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 305, 14 May 1941, Page 2

AN OYSTER'S LIFE

NOT AN UNHAPPY ONE Inoffensive as it is. the oyster's life is not a happy one 1 ; and death (at its best) is garnished Avitli cayenne, lemon and vinegar. In life, they pine away if tlia Water gets too cold; they are subject to "winter mortality," Avhich makes thousands of damp corpses of them; stingarees crush them; borers and 'Svafer" parasites, mutilatn them. "Then," said Mr G. Selmon, of George's RiA r cr, at the oyster farmers' conference at Doll's Point, Sydney, "there's the night cavI —the bloke that thieves- them at night. And Ave 1 have to look out for small boys with sticks and knives." -Despite all these, perils, some oysters reach the age of 12 to 14 years. They are tit for market at threri vears. "That saying, about not eating oysters in a month Avith an R in it was all bunk," he Avent. on. "You can eat them all tliei year round. "Oyster farmers Avork to> the tide, and sometimes liaA'c to get up at sunrise to harvest the crop or lay out oysters for the next crop. Mostly they groAV on mangrove sticks, but sometimes on stones, tiles or bricks, and you can even, get a good cluster on a bootlace." In Japan they've been groAving oysters for 400 years; on bamboo sticks; but a A-ariety of Indian bamboo tried out in New South Wales Avas unsuitable. This. Avas a bIoAV to oyster farmers, Avho face a shortage of mangrove sticks. Oysters are very finicky about the p.mount of oxygen and food in the water, and they must have lots of mud. One farmer said he could vouch that George's River oysters were the best in the Avorld, because samples of the mud had been found to be \ r ery similar to the mud in the Thames. During the year, one farmer complained, soil from rondmaking at Port Stephens seeped' into the Avater. and many oysters died.