Oyster Season Closing

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32349, 15 July 1970, Page 18

Oyster Season Closing

Wew Zealand Press Association) INVERCARGILL, July 14. Formal notice of the closing of the oyster season next Tuesday was given by the Marine Department in Bluff.

The Minister of Marine (Mr McCready) last week said formal notice of the closing of the season would be given as soon as the catch reached 110,000 (sacks. Mr B. L. Allen, the Marine Department’s administration officer in Bluff, said tonight that this figure had been reached and the season would close on Tuesday, regardless of whether the limit of 115,000 sacks had been reached. This is the earliest the season has been closed, and the effects on the oyster industry in and beyond Southland will be immediate. An exceptional season has been enjoyed by the industry, with long periods of fine weather. The early closing of the

■ season, which used to last • into September, was the re- ' suit of “Government in- > action,” the secretary of the I oystermen’s section of the Seamen’s Union (Mr K. R. ! Aitken) said tonight i Had the Government been : prepared to enforce conservai tion legislation five or six I years ago the beds would not ; be depleted to the stage at ’ which such an early closing i was necessary to maintain them, Mr Aitken said. “All I can say is that we : told the public and everyone what would happen, and now I it has,” he said. “Even before I started, oystermen were tryi ing to conserve the beds, but , no-one would listen to us. “Now it’s too late, and it’s the same story with crayfish,” : said Mr Aitken.