Boats Mobbed As First Oysters Brought In

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30367, 17 February 1964, Page 10

Boats Mobbed As First Oysters Brought In

(New Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL, February 16. Between 4 o’clock and 5.30 there were more cars on the harbour island at Bluff than there were on regatta day. They were clustered around the oyster boats. Access had to be roped off by the Southland Harbour Board near the oyster wharf.

The lorries and railway trucks taking the first day’s catch of the season from the boats to the factories and markets would not have had roopi to S oeuvre into the ing platforms. The top skipper of the day on toe east bed Mid the oysters were riiore plentiful than they were at toe end of last season. The quality was much better, he added. The flesh was white and firm. Alt 17 boats sailed for the beds about 4.30 am, and for most dredging began shortly after 5.30. At least seven boats worked op the east beds but the fleet was scattered over most of tie Streit. Craft began returning to pplt about 3' p.m. and the first boat arrived at 4 o’clock.

The last boat home berthed soon after five.

The Martne Department’s inspectors of fisheries were also active today. The Southland inspector, Mr S. Jones, and the chief inspector for New Zealland, Mr S. Brookes, tested sacks from more than half the fleet. They were checking on Sizes of shells, using a standard metal ring. One boat's crew was busy until late in the evening dealing with a catch of more than 18000 oysters.

The top catch for the day was 111 sacks, and the lowest was 42 sacks. One merchant showed his record for toe start of the 1952 season. Then, only 10 boats were working and the first three days’ tallies were 1297 sacks, 1304, 1273—an average of nearly 130 sacks a boat. Thus the 1952 start of the season's catch was nearly double today's on an average. The boats, which allow sales of sacks on the wharf, were doing a roaming trade at £4 a sack. Trucks, trailers and car boots were loaded to the gunwales. Oyster knives were flashing at speed on most of the boats as friends of toe crews opened their first oysters of the season. Some of those who took the sacks of oysters away would not be quite as fast and it could be imagined that many oysters were still being opened early in the morning-