Far North oyster farmers "on struggle street" with a herpes virus killing 85 per cent of their juvenile stock have aired their concerns to Primary Industries Minister David Carter.
Nine representatives of marine farms between Parengarenga and Waikare growing just over 50 per cent of the oysters produced in the district met the minister for discussions arranged by Northland MP Mike Sabin last week.
Mr Carter was told how the closure of Sanfords' oyster processing factory in Kaeo late last year caused the loss of 15 fulltime and 51 seasonal jobs. Overall, the effect of ostreid herpesvirus-1 (OsHV-1) has halved the total of 400 people employed in the Far North oyster industry.
Ian Herbert, from Pacific Marine Farms at Kaeo which is the oyster division of Aotearoa Fisheries, said the minister was "very switched on to where we are coming from".
"We're not after handouts, but we would like funding support for a selective breeding programme to produce oysters resistant to the virus," Mr Herbert said. "We want to move from wild oysters to hatchery breeding to make our industry flourish again."
The oyster farmers also told the minister about water quality problems they had in some areas of the Far North.