OYSTER SEASON AT BLUFF

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26026, 1 February 1950, Page 3

OYSTER SEASON AT BLUFF

FIRST VISIT TO BEDS ON FEBRUARY 15

“The Press" Special Service

INVERCARGILL, January 31. Preparations for the 1950 oyster season are well under way at Bluff and merchants and oystermen are looking forward to a good year. The boats will make their first trip to the beds on February 15. The yield is expected to be as large as ever, but the industry is controlled by the weather. The production capacity of the beds is seemingly endless, although at times precautions have to be taken to ensure that enough oysters remain at the end of one season for breeding. Most of the oysters come from beds near Raupuka Island, but towards the end of the season the boats travel almost to Stewart Island as the supplies at the other beds become low. Of the 10 boats that were operating last year, only one is unlikely to be working this year. The men on the boats work very long hours —they start at daybreak and return to the oyster wharf about 3 p.m. The opening of the oysters is done by hand. Bluff oysters do not grow on rocks at the bottom of Foveaux Strait. They breed on the seabed and might almost be termed mud oysters. They take four to five years to grow, the age being told by the number of rings on the shell.

Oysters in the shell are transported nearly all over New Zealand. A canning factory at Bluff preserves the oysters in large tins and the contents remain nearly as fresh as oysters in shell. These tins can be transported long distances more conveniently. Last year the estimated catch of oysters was 70,000 sacks, which, with about 60 dozen to the sack, represents a total of about 4,200,000 oysters. The total catches for the last seven years were: 1934, 73,119 sacks; 1944, 63,949; 1945, 76,038; 1946. 89.356; 1947, 81,518; 1948, 94,444; 1949, 70,000. The figures for 1949 are not official.