IMPORTED OYSTERS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 April 1932, Page 3

IMPORTED OYSTERS

SUPPLIES FROM AUSTRALIA.

NO ORDINARY EMBARGO.

The report that an effort is being made in New South Wales to secure an embargo agaiust the importation of New Zealand oysters was commented on in Wellington last week by an official of the Marine Department. A cable message from Sydney last week stated that there was an embargo against New South Wales oysters entering the New Zealand market. The official explained that there is no embargo against the importation into the Dominion of Australian oysters, except during the. close season, when it is an offence for anyone to be in possession of rock oysters. This regulation, it was explained, had ben designed, not to protect the local grower from overseas competition, as suggested in the message from Sydney this week, but to prevent the relaying on New Zealand beaches oi foreign oysters. “We have always exported oysters to Australia, and I do not think the New Zealand competition is the whole and sole reason for the depression m the New South Wales trade,” the official said.' “The position is more likely due to the fact that many of the Australians themselves cannot afford to buy oysters, which are looked upon by some people as a luxury. ; “We in New Zealand have never imported New South Wales oysters, at least to any appreciable extent, because they are so much dearer than we can produce them for ourselves. During the last eight years, I think lam right in saying, there has been only one consignment from Australia to arrive here. That was at the instance of an Auckland oyster dealer, who wanted to be able to supply his restaurant after, we had closed the oyster-picking season in Auckland.” , ~ In the trade sense of the . word, there was no embargo on Australian oysters, the officer stated. There was always a danger in importing foreign oysters, which, of course, had to be alive when brought in, on account of their liability to be infected, with organisms detrimental to the well-being of the local oyster beds. The existing regulation made it an offence for anyone to be in possession of rock oysters during the close season, irrespective of the source from which they were obtained. An English example was quoted. It was stated that a serious pest known as the slipper limpet, which lived on the food supplies of the oyster, had been accidently introduced into England by oysters from America. It had. cost the English fisheries thousands of pounds to deal with this particular pest. Similar cases had occurred in other countries. The report of the Marine Department on fisheries for the year ended March, 1931, discloses that 140,289 dozen oysters were exported, mainly to the islands. The value is shown at £l5OO. In addition, 15,0791 b. of oysters preserved m tins went out of the country. The figures for this year are not yet available, but it is anticipated that on account of the depression a drop in the quantities exported will be shown.