History of Broken Bay Oysters

Oyster growing commenced in the 1870’s on the beautiful Hawkesbury River estuary with oyster growers establishing a multi million dollar Sydney Rock Oyster industry in 2004.

In 2004 QX parasite destroyed the established Sydney rock oyster population of the Hawkesbury River and four seasons of stock precipitating a major impact on the NSW oyster industry as the Hawkesbury River was the second largest oyster producing estuary in NSW.

Eight left out of twenty eight growers, determined not to leave a legacy of derelict infrastructure in the river embarked on establishing new farming systems for disease resistant Sydney rock and Pacific oysters. With support of a NSW Government restructure package, some growers between 2004 – 2008 removed dead stocks, redundant oyster infrastructure (8000 tonnes) of tarred sticks, trays, poles and racks from the Hawkesbury River resulting in reduced environmental risk, aesthetic improvement and significant reduction of boating hazards.

By 2004, the oyster growers committed to rebuilding a new oyster industry in the Hawkesbury River founded the Broken Bay Oysters Association Inc (BBOA) with a formal commitment to achieving environmental sustainability and new river stewardship. Since BBOA’s businesses have changed production methods, trialed new oysters, and successfully lobbied landholders/stakeholders to reduce their impact on water quality through better land management practices. BBOA’s involvement in ongoing research into QX has not yet resolved the mystery of the parasite that almost closed its industry, but remains undaunted and committed with many voluntary hours spreading the word to all about the value of a cleaner, healthier estuary.

Recognised for outstanding leadership in both community and staff development!

BBOA was awarded the Landcare Primary Producer Award in the 2009 Hawkesbury Nepean Landcare Awards. Rob Moxham received a Commended Award in the 2008 NSW Oyster Industry Environmental Champion Award for the ‘Hawkesbury River Clean-up’ following the QX disease outbreak.

Since 2008 BBOA has given numerous volunteer presentations to community and landcare groups for University and TAFE classes, Council and CMA Field Days.

Demonstrating innovation in production systems

QX disease changed 100 plus years of oyster farming practices. Old “wild catch of spat” methods became outdated and new farm methods developed so the industry could survive. Oyster spat (baby oysters) is purchased from hatcheries when these oysters are 3mm in size. There was a need to develop an appropriate system for housing baby oysters when placed in floating plastic cultivation units protecting them from predatory fish and birds. BBOA came up with a ‘1000 micron sock’ in which oysters are placed during the early stages of development. BBOA also committed to the total replacement of harmful tar based technologies with plastic infrastructure which is more durable and environmentally friendly.

Demonstrating long term sustained growth and clear vision for the future!

BBOA adopted a Statement of Objectives for sustainable management practices, good river citizenship, environmental awareness and sustainable stocking density and are the ‘eyes on the river’ playing a significant role in developing a sustainable oyster industry. By BBOA adopting the NSW Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy standards for estuarine stewardship it has played a significant role improving the environmental management of the Hawkesbury River by monitoring and reporting on estuarine health, and raising community awareness about good river stewardship.

Since 2004 BBOA members have invested considerable resources into plastic trays, plastic baskets and other product, invested into capital equipment such as forklifts, cranes, grading machine, rumblers and four stroke outboard motors.

Additional investment into new refrigeration units for oyster storage has resulted in a number of refrigerated containers on site.

Productivity has increased from nil in 2004 to approx half of our pre QX production levels resulting in increased recruitment and engagement of workers into the industry. BBOA aims to keep increasing production though improved efficiency by using floating infrastructure that allows oysters to be farmed at all tides, latest grading technology and ensuring that Hawkesbury oysters meet BBOA’s high quality market standards.

Continuous development of management systems and processes to monitor and manage business risk

BBOA has developed an Environmental Management System – EMS (PDF 2.3Mb).

This EMS is a structured system designed to help BBOA and the Hawkesbury River oyster industry to reduce any impacts through targeted continuous improvement in its environmental management, leading to improvements in its environmental performance, while delivering ‘bottom line’ benefits through reduced operating costs and enhanced communication with the local community and authorities. It also addresses food safety, quality, occupational health and safety.

Demonstrating understanding of our supply chain and customer requirements

BBOA quickly realised farming the new Pacific oyster was totally different to the Sydney Rock oyster and identified historically that the NSW industry as a whole had a totally inconsistent grading system. With the unique growing characteristics of the Pacific oyster and the nutrient rich conditions of the Hawkesbury River we were forced to research our competition from interstate, gain feedback from our customers locally to establish how we as Hawkesbury River growers could differentiate and position ourselves above the rest of the industry. This resulted in BBOA adopting a unified consistent product grading system for larger oyster size, premium meat condition, packaging plus investment in refrigeration units to comply with NSW Food Authority regulations ensuring a fresh quality product to market and end consumer.