Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters manager Graeme Wright said yesterday the weather was looking good for the first day of catch and preliminary testing at the wild oyster fishery showed no signs of the Bonamia ostreae parasite.
He said the challenge for this season would be the Omicron outbreak which created concern about the supply around the country.
"The weather is fine for the first couple of days of the season but our difficulties are really around managing staff and relying on couriers during this outbreak — you know. This will be definitely the biggest challenge."
He said there was a strong demand in the southern region for the delicacies, but the company still relied a lot on the North Island’s market.
About 35% of their supply was destined to Otago-Southland with the rest being sent to other regions of the country.
"If we have a supply problem, we will not be able to process the oysters and this is the major concern as we need those markets for a successful operation."
About 10 boats would dredge the first batch early in the morning, he said.
Even with the first oysters arriving in the afternoon, Mr Wright decided to only open his popular oyster shop in Invercargill tomorrow at 7am, he said.
"People are already coming here and asking for oysters, but they will need to wait just one more day.
"I know there is an expectation, but to have oysters here tomorrow, we would need to send the boats out at midnight and we are one boat down already. So we thought it would be better to wait."
The total allowable commercial catch for Foveaux Strait was set at 14.95million oysters, but as a conservative approach over recent years, the industry have been what they call shelving — a process where as an industry we agree to catch a lesser limit., he said.
"We will start with 7.5million oysters and then after a month, we will revise the harvest limit."
The season ends on August 31.
