NSW oyster growers face contrasting holiday seasons as Christmas Eve rush looms
Greg and Jade Norris have welcomed their second year of favourable conditions. (ABC South East: Jacinta Counihan)
In short:
Oyster growers on the NSW south coast are optimistic about this year's Christmas harvest amid favourable conditions.
Meanwhile, farmers on the Mid North Coast are dealing with the fallout from this year's record-breaking flood in May.
What's next?
A grower affected by the flooding remains hopeful for next year's stock.
As oyster growers work through their busiest time of the year, two very different stories are being told along the New South Wales coast.
After years of wet weather interrupting holiday season sales, growers on the south coast are welcoming a year of favourable conditions.
Among them are Jade and Greg Norris, who farm oysters on the Clyde River at Batemans Bay.
"With the last five years of rain events that we've had, we've lost a couple of Christmases where we haven't been able to sell oysters from this river," Ms Norris said.
Sydney rock oysters pulled from the Clyde River ready to be sold to customers in the area across the holidays. (ABC South East: Jacinta Counihan)
Heavy rain can lead to too much fresh water in the river, which can result in mortalities in a crop.
But Mr Norris said in the past two years, water conditions had improved.
"It seems last year and particularly this year, it's looking pretty good," he said.
Ms Norris said Christmas Eve was their biggest trading day.
Last year they sold 800 dozen oysters through their retail business, and many more to restaurants.
The couple hoped this year would be the same or better.
Heavy rain can lead to too much fresh water in a river. (ABC South East: Jacinta Counihan)
Reprieve after algal bloom
It has been a similar story for farmers in Shoalhaven, where contaminated water from rain and toxic algal bloom events closed estuaries in the lead up to Christmas over the past two years.
But in 2025, growers are hoping good river conditions will turn the tide.
"We have been harvesting pretty much everyday, bringing them in, washing them up," Greenwell Point oyster farmer Sally McLean said.
"This is the time that we prepare for all year.
"Hopefully this will be our best season yet."
Sally McLean hopes this year will be their best yet. (ABC News: Romy Gilbert)
Ms McLean said many farmers had been affected by fires, floods and poor water quality across the past five years.
"It's just a part and parcel of farming, but we're resilient and we do adapt," she said.
Tough season after record floods
It is a different story on the on the NSW Mid North Coast.
Devastating floods in May this year left many growers short on stock at what would normally be the busiest time of year.
Manning River growers Matt and Peita Carroll sold about 1,500-1,800 opened oysters, and 400-500 unopened oysters in the Christmas week alone last year.
Peita and Matt Carroll have shut down retail operations on their farm this Christmas. (ABC News: Floss Adams)
This Christmas, for the first time since they began the business five years ago, they will not sell a single oyster.
"It's a bitter pill to deliver to customers when you get repeated phone calls," Mr Carroll said.
"People understand and we assure them that we're not going anywhere, it's just at this point in time we're not operating commercially over the Christmas period."
After back-to-back floods in 2021 and 2022, Mr Carroll's 2023 crop was due to go to market this year.
May's floods wiped out 60 per cent of his crop, forcing Mr Carroll to shut down and find other work.
Matt and Peita Carroll lost 60 per cent of the stock they hoped to sell this year. (Supplied: Matt Carroll)
"We've built up some really good relationships with some local customers and abroad from the local area over the Christmas and Easter period that are somewhat reliant on the product we provide," he said.
"I'm a realist and I couldn't realistically fit it in, so the actual decision was easy to make.
"The hard part was letting the customers down."
Hopes for next year
Mr Carroll said river conditions had been favourable in the later part of this year, and he hoped to take the surviving oysters from his 2023 crop to market at Easter.
Meanwhile, Ms Norris said unpredictable seasons were all part of the job.
"Like any farming, when Mother Nature's good to you, then it's great, when she's not so good to you, it can be really difficult, it can be quite stressful," she said.
"It has its ups and downs, but more ups than downs."
In November, the NSW government allocated $20 million to a grant program supporting aquaculture businesses, including oyster farmers.
Ms McLean said it was needed more than ever.
"We need to sustain our industry, we need to move to forward, we need investment into it so we have oysters into the future," she said.