Bluff oyster business off to a busy start
A new business venture for a husband and wife duo is off to a good start.
Rodney and Dee Clark, with the help of family friend Ruby Kent, have transformed a portable truck to sell oysters from on the main street of Bluff.
In their first week on the job they were pleased with its success.
‘‘The support has been overwhelming. It’s taken us by surprise,’’ Rodney said.
The couple had their own oyster farm.
Even though the business was still in its early days, Rodney said there had been no shortage of interested people.
As for how many oysters they had sold: ‘‘lots’’, he said.
Tourists from China, Japan, Norway, Denmark and France had stopped by for a taste.
Amber Nepe, of Cromwell, was in Bluff for a visit when she spotted the truck on the main street.
Being in Cromwell, Nepe said it was hard to source fresh seafood.
She came back for seconds after demolishing her first pack in minutes.
Dee said they wanted to use the attention they were receiving from the public as an opportunity to promote Bluff.
The Eagle Hotel was offering a half-price deal on beer if people brought in oysters to be cooked, she said.
The oyster season will kick off on March 1.
Bluff Oyster Management Company spokesman Graeme Wright said the oysters this year looked ‘‘reasonably good’’.
With calls already rolling in from distribution bases, Wright said he will get ‘‘mowed down’’ at the start of the season.
His factory was gearing up, he said.
‘‘The fishing gear is coming off and the oyster gear on ... we’re blowing the dust off the boats and ready to go,’’ he said.
Southlanders are ‘‘really passionate’’ about their oysters so they can expect them on Thursday, Wright said.
The industry had taken a hit with the disease, Bonamia ostreae, that affects oysters but a stock assessment survey had been issued to look at the affects of the disease and the recruitment of young oysters. The results will be out at the end of April.
The survey was ‘‘a strict process’’ that sampled, counted and measured oysters and looked at the state of the oyster beds, Wright said.