Bluff oyster season charges on after Ngāi Tahu pulls pin

21 March / Evan Harding

Nine boats are still catching Bluff oysters in Foveaux Strait this season after Ngāi Tahu announced it was not fishing for the delicacy, citing ongoing concerns about the poor state of the fishery.

Fisheries New Zealand fisheries management director Emma Taylor said last year was particularly tough for oyster fishers due to the effects of poor weather and the ongoing impacts of Bonamia exitiosa, a parasite that is endemic to New Zealand.

Catch rates were low and the quality of oysters was affected. Top Auckland restaurant Depot Eatery, owned by chef Al Brown, will not serve Bluff oysters in 2025, over sustainability concerns, Stuff reported on Friday.

Taylor indicated there would be limited effect on the wild oyster fishery in the strait with fishing continuing this season.

“Catch levels are not expected to have a significant negative impact on the stock, with only around two percent of oysters taken each year.

“Stock size is more likely to be determined by the levels of disease mortality, as well as oyster recruitment and growth, than by fishing.”

Ngāi Tahu had contracted two boats to catch oysters on its behalf last season.

Of the nine other boats still fishing for Bluff oysters in Foveaux Strait this season, including eight full-time, six were for Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters which processed them in its Invercargill factory and sold them nationwide.

Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters manager Graeme Wright said he respected Ngāi Tahu’s commercial decision not to fish in 2025, and agreed the Foveaux Strait fishery was in a “down cycle”.

Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation chief executive Todd Moyle said it had stopped its harvesting of oysters early in each of the past two seasons due to a decline in the quantity landed and the poor quality of the catch.

Its decision to not fish this season was based on the long-term sustainability of the fishery and the wellbeing of the communities it supported, he said.

When asked if it was correct Ngai Tahu did not have any boats available to catch Bluff oysters for it this season, Moyle said if Ngāi Tahu Seafood had confidence in the fishery, it would have secured catch capacity well in advance of the season starting.

However, he said the Bluff Oyster Management Company, which was the industry’s stakeholder group, was more than comfortable to continue to catch oysters, with their decision based on sound science completed by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand.

Top Auckland seafood restaurant Depot Eatery had taken Bluff oysters off its menu this season, over sustainability concerns. But Wright said none of its clients had cancelled orders.

The Bluff oyster industry invested heavily in research and science to understand what drove the fishery, and it worked closely with the ministry of Fisheries and Niwa, with Ngāi Tahu part of that process, Wright said.

“The ministry is comfortable that what we take commercially will have no effect on the outcome of the fishery. In fact, if you don’t fish you lose the ability to monitor what’s happening.”

Science had shown the Bluff oyster population in Foveaux Strait was driven by the Bonamia disease, reproductive process and environmental influences – not by commercial fishing, he said.

“The quality [of oysters] in the past couple of years has made it difficult, but by fishing or not fishing, it doesn’t change the quality. It’s a wild fishery.”

Nearly three weeks into this season, Wright said the quality of oysters was “slightly better” than the last couple of seasons, but there had been no improvement in numbers.