Bluff oyster season charges on after Ngāi Tahu pulls pin
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The quality of Bluff oysters caught in Foveaux Strait during the opening fortnight of the 2025 season has improved from the past two years but they are “certainly still not primo”, a major industry player says.
Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters manager Graeme Wright said the weather had been kind so far, with just two full days lost in the first 17 days of the season.
That was a big improvement on the 2024 season, which was plagued by weather woes.
The catch rates in 2025 were so far similar to last year’s “reasonably average” catch rates, but the meat quality was better this year, he added.
“The fishery is definitely at a lower end of the cycle – it’s hard work for the boats to try and get them,” Wright said.
“But with good weather and spending time out there, some of the boats are getting quite good catches.”
There were “zillions” of juvenile oysters in Foveaux Strait that would grow over time, he said.
Demand for Bluff oysters, as always, was strong locally and nationwide, Wright said.
“We haven’t been able to meet the demand. There are some very passionate oyster lovers out there – it’s a seasonal thing and people just want the opportunity to have some.”
Demand for the oysters was across the board, from distributors to restaurateurs and the general public.
Ricky Ryan, a skipper of one of the oyster boats, confirmed there were a lot of juvenile oysters in Foveaux Strait but said the number of legal-sized oysters this season was so far down on last season.
“The legal size is 58mm but we take 62mm [and up].”
There was evidence of the oyster parasite Bonamia exitiosa, which had been in the strait for many decades but at low levels, he said.
“The quality [of Bluff oysters] in the last few years hasn’t been that great ... It’s mother nature,” Ryan said.
“It’s not what we like to see, but we have seen it worse and it picked up again, so fingers crossed.”
The season runs from March 1 to August 31, and the industry has a quota of 7.5 million oysters.