Fresh Bluff oysters with lemon and knife on stones on dark background. Photo / Getty Images
Fresh Bluff oysters with lemon and knife on stones on dark background. Photo / Getty Images
A major iwi-owned seafood supplier is extending its pause on Bluff oyster harvests into 2026 amid ongoing concerns about their fishery’s long-term sustainability and resilience.
Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation chief executive Todd Moyle said, despite its seafood subsidiary choosing not to harvest any tio / Bluff oysters in 2025, concernsaround their fishery’s debilitated state still persisted.
Ngāi Tahu Seafood, which controls about 20% of the Bluff oyster commercial quota, has recorded an ongoing decline in the quality and quantity of harvested tio in recent years, with the 2023 and 2024 harvest seasons cut short over these concerns.
In March, the company said it will not proceed with its 2025 harvest, citing “several challenges” influencing the decline of its Foveaux Strait fishery, including disease and viruses, climate change and weather events, fluctuating sea temperatures, and disruptions to food sources.
Ngāi Tahu Seafood has made the call to continue the pause with backing from Awarua Rūnaka, a Ngāi Tahu hapū and mana whenua of the Bluff area.
“Given the condition of the fishery and the clear guidance from mana whenua, not fishing tio this season is the right call,” Moyle said.
Fresh Bluff oysters with lemon and knife on stones on dark background. Photo / Getty Images
“Our priority is supporting the long-term sustainability of the tio fishery and protecting it for future generations.”
Pania Coote, chair of the Awarua Incorporated Society, said changes to the tio population, observed by hapū members, have shaped the iwi’s decision to extend the pause.
“Historical patterns and local mātauraka (knowledge) tell us that the recovery of tio beds takes time,” Coote said.
“The fishery has previously experienced periods of decline, and restoration requires sustained protection to allow natural regeneration and the rebuilding of resilient populations.”
Barry Bragg, chair of the hapū’s commercial arm Awarua Rūnaka Ltd, said their focus was turning to how the fishery’s oyster beds could be restored and protected for long-term use.
“We are encouraging the industry and regulators to carefully consider management approaches that reduce the pressure on key beds, including leaving primary beds undisturbed and, when harvesting resumes, potentially implementing shorter or more conservative seasons to support recovery,” Bragg said.
Depot Eatery, on Auckland's Federal St, pulled Bluff oysters from their menu in March last year. central. Photo / Babiche Martens
Awarua Rūnaka was also exploring ways to regenerate the fishery, including a partnership with the Cawthron Institute on aquaculture research. If successful, the work would establish a hatchery producing pathogen-free juvenile oysters to repopulate and strengthen the fishery.
Having been removed from Depot’s menu since March, Brown described the Bluff oyster as a “national taonga” that needed to be protected for future generations.
“This is an opportunity to set an example,” he told the Herald‘s Kim Knight.
“Being a restaurant, we’re kind of a window on what’s going on out there, and so if we can get some messaging out, and get people to start thinking about that, then hopefully our children’s children will be able to have a Bluff oyster one day.”
The Bluff oyster season typically runs between March and August.
The shellfish are dredged off Southland’s coastline in the Foveaux Strait, a cold and turbulent stretch of water separating Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island) from Rakiura (Stewart Island) where one of the world’s only natural oyster beds remains.
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