Karen Calder says she knew oysters were going to be her future when she met her husband-to-be Willie more than 30 years ago.
He was an oyster fisherman, just like his father and his grandfather.
"He was never going to be anything else. Oystering is a bit like most fishing, it's either in your blood or it isn't.''
As Karen Walker, she grew up in Bluff alongside the Calder family, although she went to Southland Girls' High School and pursued a career as an accounting practice manager while Willie went to Kingswell High School and left school at 15 to go oyster dredging.
The Calders had their oysters processed by others until opening their own factory, Direct Fish and Oysters, in Bluff in 1996.
Mrs Calder runs the factory and its staff of 11 openers, four counters and two packers and looks after marketing.
Their season is short, and sharp, from March 1 to about the end of May.
"It's full-on. The factory does a day shift and a night shift.''
Their customers are predominantly South Island-based, including restaurants, takeaway outlets and all of Foodstuffs' supermarkets.
The season officially runs until the end of August, but the skippers fish until they reach their quota and that usually comes a lot earlier.
The Calders are part of the Bluff Oyster Management group whose members set voluntary quota limits to ensure the disease Bonamia, which swept through the beds between 1985 and 1993, does not return.
With the reduced quotas the Calders expect to catch and process 72,000 dozen oysters this season.
They have one boat, Argosy, built by Mr Calder's grandfather, "Two Ton'' Johnson, in the 1960s.
His name was actually William, but he was never known by that, Mrs Calder said.
"He was also a very successful cray fisherman. They would ring and and ask him how much he had on board and he would always say two ton, whether he had 20 ton or one ton or nothing.''
Two Ton's daughter Marjorie Calder ran Johnson's Oysters for many years while her husband Earnest (Nobby) dredged from Argosy.
Then it was Willie's turn to take over the boat.
There are also other Calders and Johnsons oystering in Bluff, including Willie's sister Jane Calder, who owns Southern Enterprise - her son Greg Mead is the skipper - and Willie's cousin Gordon Johnson, who skippers Toiler for Sandford Fisheries.
The fourth generation of Two Ton's family was already on Argosy, Mrs Calder said.
"We've got two sons and a daughter who all go out. Casey is 30, Reon is 27 and Cordelia is 20. Her twin, Anna, is at university doing a Bachelor of Commerce degree and marketing, majoring in Chinese ... I think she
will come back to the company one day.''
Cordelia was a woman working in a man's world, Mrs Calder said.
"She went away and did her super yacht tickets last year. Then a vacancy came up on the Argosy and she pestered her father to go out.''
The work was physical and involved long hours, she said.
"They get up and get organised about 2am and leave the wharf about 3.30am. Then it's an hour and a-half to the beds.
"They tow the net and culch - sort oysters on board - until about 2.30pm and get back to the wharf about 4pm. Each tow takes about eight minutes, so they get a few in.''
As well as its succulent oysters, Foveaux Strait is known for its unpredictable weather. Mrs Calder said Argosy could only go out when the weather was good.
"She's pretty treacherous out there, and it can go from being nice to horrendous in about 20 minutes.
"It makes me laugh. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have had this conversation. Customers will ring up from Christchurch, Dunedin, Auckland, or the West Coast or wherever, wanting oysters and I say 'look, I'm sorry, we can't go out because it's too rough'. And they will say 'oh, but it's beautiful here'.
"They seem to think oysters grow on trees and we can just whip out and pick some for them.''
The Calders all love oysters and eat them every day during the season. Under the quota system each crew member is allowed 50 "homers'' daily.
"Someone's got to be in charge of quality control,'' Mrs Calder said, laughing.
She has experimented with soups and successful beef, oyster and stout pies, but her preference is to eat them straight from their shells.
Mrs Calder said the family was likely to be oystering for a lot longer yet, with a fifth generation waiting in the wings.
Their grandson, nicknamed "Hurricane Toby'', had the makings of an oysterman, she said.
"He's tough and he loves it out on the boat. He thinks it is great - just a giant roller-coaster.''
