No cuts in oyster quota

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 2

No cuts in oyster quota

(N.Z. Press Association)

INVERCARGILL,

November 29.

No reduction in the oyster quota would be made for the Foveaux Strait beds next year, said the Minister of Marine and Fisheries (Mr McCready) in Invercargill.

The 23 registered oyster boats at Bluff will be permitted to take 110,000 sacks of oysters from Foveaux Strait during the six-month season, from March 1 to August 31. The 1972 quota was announced after the Minister and senior officials from his department had conferred for three hours with members of the Foveaux Strait Oyster Advisory Committee. The department imposed restrictions to protect oysters in the middle of Foveaux Strait, which have been heav-

ily dredged in recent years. It will close a certain area for one week in every four throughout the season. It will also adjust some of the areas designated as oyster beds so that boats will be able to dredge a slightly bigger area.

If the oyster quota is filled before August 31, the boats will be permitted to prospect for new beds outside the designated area until the end of the season.

The quota announcement marks a turning point for the Bluff oyster industry as it is the first time for some years that quotas have not been reduced. The oystermen were permitted quotas of 170,000 sacks in 1963, when very good oyster growth and regeneration was evident, but this quota has been gradually cut in the years since. The quota was 156,000 sacks in 1968, but was dropped to 121,000 sacks in 1969, 115,000 sacks in 1970, and 110,000 sacks in 1971, In fixing quotas, the department aims to limit each sea-

son’s catch to 15 per cent of the oysters growing in the strait each year.

Two oyster beds in Foveaux Strait, known as Al and A2, have been closed to dredging for the whole of the 1972 season. Saturday’s meeting decided that .the oyster - industry should ' return substantial quantities of shell to these beds in an endeavour to rejuvenate them. Experiments by the Marine Deparment showed that spats on these shells could help consolidate the beds if they were returned within a certain time.

The best method of returning the shells is being investigated, and the project will be co-ordinated by a committee representing the industry, the department and the Fishing Industries Board.