By Tess Brunton of RNZ
Whether eagerly plucked from the pottle or freshly shucked and served with Champagne, bluffies are in high demand across the country from March to August.
It was an early start for skipper Greg Mead, who leaves the Bluff wharf about four in the morning and heads into Foveaux Strait.
The volatile stretch of water is not for the fainthearted, but he is used to it and Stewart Island protects him and his crew from the worst of the large, rolling sou’westerly swell.
‘‘You definitely get some rough days out there. Those days aren’t so nice - a bit of wind and waves and things like that,’’ he said.
‘‘But the good, nice flat days make up for it and you enjoy your job a lot more when it’s nice and calm, that’s for sure.’’
It takes about an hour and a-half to get to the oyster grounds and then he and his staff of four hit the deck running, getting their dredges in the water and towing them along the sea floor.
They pull up about four times an hour, his crew sorting through to find oysters that live in the sand and gravel 35m to 40m below.
So what is behind the hard mahi that goes into Bluff oysters?
‘‘It’s pretty cool to be involved in a generational family business. Everyone in the family’s pretty passionate about it and cares about the fishery, so yeah, we want to look after it the best we can and keep it going for generations to come,’’ Mr Mead said.
The days were long, the boat not usually returning to shore until 1pm-3pm, and they felt longer when days were darker and winter began to bite.
The first month of the season always amazed him - they could never keep up with demand regardless of what the season was like.
He preferred his bluffies cooked - crumbed, Kilpatrick or battered from a fish and chip shop - but it took a lot of work behind the scenes to get them on the plate, he said.
‘‘It’s not only the boats that do the hard work to get them on to the plate. Once they’re unloaded, they go into the factory and they’re all opened by hand and then there’s packers in the factory that are individually counting them and pottling them and then you’ve got the freight companies,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s quite a lot of sets of hands touch an oyster before it gets to the public.’’
Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters manager Graeme Wright said the past few years had not been too kind to the industry, which had battled some difficult weather and a drop in quality.
But this season was off to a better start and the future was looking bright, he said.
‘‘Definitely seeing lots and lots of little juvenile oysters this year. In actual fact, we’re even seeing oysters still spawning, which is something we don’t normally see at this time of the year.’’
Thousands of people are expected to pay homage to the salty taonga during the Bluff Oyster and Food Festival in May.
