1000 Million Oysters On Foveaux Strait Ground

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30044, 31 January 1963, Page 12

1000 Million Oysters On Foveaux Strait Ground

(New Zealand Pre** Association)

INVERCARGILL, Jan. 30. The number of takeable oysters on the. commercial ground in Foveeu Strait is estimated at 1000 million. The btologtet in charge of the Foveaux Strait oyster investigation for the Marine Department, Mr D. H. Steed, said today that the potential, continuing yield each season was 170.000 to 100.000 sacks provided the fishing effort was properly distributed!

Mr Stead was presenting ha* preliminary report on the investigation to a meeting of merchanto, oyster boat skippers, union representatives and departmental officiata in Bluff today. The survey bad been under way since April. 1900. The meeting, under the chairmanship of Mr K. R. Allan of Writington, the director of research for the department, wa« called by the department to discuss the report before the oyster season opens next mouth. Mr Stead said a very tentative estimtae could be made of the quantities of oysters actually present on commercial grounds. the grounds lay within ths rich, oyster-bearing arsa which was about HO square mties in extent, he said. , It was ' generally agreed, and confirmed by analytic, that not to-y.spot, within this area would give an economic return to sn eyety n&SFsS* ■

graphy, diving and other methods indicate a minimum density of oysters on co»nmerctal ground as five to the square yard, said Mr Stead He therefore estimated the number of takeable oysters on commercial ground in Foveaux strait at five a square yard; 50 square nautical miles (200 million square yards) cave a total of 1000 minion oysters.

In recent years, catches ranged between 75.000 and 125,000 sacks at 900 oysters to the sack. This gave an annual take of 00 to 100 million or 0 per Cent.' to 10 per cent, of the number of oysters on the ground. Insufficient was yet known of the biology of the oysters and, in particular, of their breeding n«yi natural death rate to show whether this percentage could safely be It would appear that, under most conditions, the commercial dredge wag about 10 per ceot. efficient, Mr Stand said. By fate calculations, dredges caught an average of one oyster for every two square yards. The meta danger ts that too many of the breeding «• adult stock may be removed from any one area progressivciy reuuciuc wem*'** that could happen if.dredgtag were rereaetve in any “Mr’stead said one of »w proito effects of dredging was that M tended to bteak fSww or ’’multoek'’ red to sprred oystere under this materiel.