The oyster season began at the start of the month and there had been a steady supply until the weather packed in.
Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters manager Graham Wright said demand during the past week had been ‘‘chaos''. Fishing boats were back at sea yesterday, for the first time since last Sunday.‘‘We had a fantastic start [to the season] but the weather this week has been a disaster.
''The company had exhausted its stock and had been unable to distribute as many oysters as it normally would, especially outside Southland.
‘‘We sold everything we had last week and we've had no oysters this week,'' Mr Wright said.
‘‘We haven't been able to put a lot of oysters around the country, which has upset some people.
‘‘But we've got to look after the locals first.
‘‘That's the nature of fisheries, really. They're all weather dependent.''
The Invercargill company's shop was usually closed at weekends, but would open this morning, Mr Wright said.
Dunedin company Bluewater Products was also out of stock yesterday, general manager Sam Hutchison said ‘‘The timing's been a bit poor, to be honest.''
The company had already received several phone calls from customers who had placed orders, Mr Wright said.
Those customers had been assured their orders would be delivered as soon as possible.
The first month of the oyster season, which runs until August, was always challenging, with supply up and down ‘‘like a yo-yo'', Mr Hutchison said.
Harbour Fish manager Aaron Cooper said the company's shop was also out of oysters, but he hoped to have more in by tomorrow.
‘‘We've had plenty of oysters [this season].
‘‘It's been a good season, actually. It's been great.''
The company's boats had not been out this week, he said.
Countdown national communications and public affairs manager James Walker said the supply of Bluff oysters had been low this season because of the poor weather.
‘‘The good news is that the weather forecast is improving for fishing, and we're expecting supply in Countdown stores come Monday or Tuesday.''
Foodstuffs South Island general manager of retail operations Tim Donaldson said New World and Pak'n Save supermarkets in Otago were out of stock.
‘‘Hopefully, the boats will be able to get out this weekend.
‘‘If this happens, we will have small quantities of Bluff oysters in our stores by Wednesday and Thursday.''
Best Cafe owner Susannah Yeoman said the Dunedin restaurant still had 100 dozen oysters in stock yesterday.
They received 300 dozen oysters on Tuesday, but they were going quickly, she said.
