Albertland Great Oyster Bed

Northern Advocate, 1 February 1940, Page 3

Albertland Great Oyster Bed

At Wharehine, on the Port Albert River, work has just concluded on the largest oyster bed scheme ever carried out in New Zealand.

The project, which involved the expenditure of £4OOO, consisted of the quarrying, barging and the laying of 3500 cubic yards of extra large sandstone spawls well below high water mark.

A grant for the work was made by the Government and the scheme was carried cut by the Marine Department.

Mr A. Tilby. Fisheries Inspector at Whakapirau, was in charge.

The stone was unloaded from the barges and spread over the foreshore. The space covered was in the

vicinity of 24 acres or 117.000 square yards, and the stone was laid in a first class oyster-bearing area. Work commenced on September 28, but,, due to bad weather and a shortage of labour, the contract was not completed until Saturday last. It is expected that seven or eight years will elapse before marketable oysters will be picked. They will be .used for the local market, but the bulk of them will go to supply the Auckland demand.

Cnee marketable oysters are available the total outlay should be recovered in five or six years and a marked improvement in the number of oysters available in the Kaipara harbour will be noticeable in seven or eight years. The rock was quarried by Mr T. Henderson, of N.aumai, while Mr H. B. Stanaway, of Dargaville, was responsible for the loading and barge work.