Bluff oysters are now on sale in fish shops and supermarkets, if you can afford them. They cost $26 a dozen which is just over $2 each. Bluff oysters come from the clean, cold waters of Foveaux Strait in the far south of New Zealand. The boats go out from Bluff and return to Bluff.
These oysters are shell fish which live on the bottom of the sea, about 35m deep. They have two shells. In 1985 and again in 2000, a disease affected the oysters for a few years. Now there is a quota and a season – from March to August. These two things – the quota and the limited season – control the number of oysters that fishermen can take each year.
New Zealand has rock oysters and Pacific oysters. The Pacific oysters came to New Zealand by accident, probably on the bottom of a ship. They grow more quickly than the native rock oysters and New Zealand now grows them in oyster farms.
However, Bluff oysters are bigger and most oyster-lovers think they are the best in the world. They are native to New Zealand and Chile.
Vocabulary
afford – have enough money to buy them
a dozen – 12
A strait is the sea between two islands
quota – limited number e.g. 5000 sacks for each boat
by accident – by chance
oyster-lovers – people who love oysters; what about strawberry-lovers, desert-lovers, chili-lovers etc?