NSW oyster growers face contrasting holiday seasons as Christmas Eve rush looms

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Christmas Eve is the biggest day of the year for many oyster farmers. But this holiday season, two very different stories are being told along the New South Wales coast.

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00:00For many, the holiday season is a time to relax, but for New South Wales South Coast

00:07oyster farmers Jade and Greg Norris, it's the busiest time of the year.

00:11We're very hands-on, so we open a lot of oysters, we try and be everywhere at once.

00:18And while the days are long for the Batemans Bay locals, their spirits are high.

00:22The 2025 season is the second year in a row they've seen favourable growing conditions

00:28in the Clyde River.

00:29This year is looking pretty good actually, so I think the river's improved over the last,

00:36probably this last couple of years.

00:38Almost two hours north, Illawarra farmer Sally McLean is also grateful for a good lead up

00:43to Christmas.

00:45Last year a toxic algal outbreak in the Crookhaven and Shoalhaven river estuaries affected sales.

00:51There's always been a challenge, it's just part and parcel of farming, but we're resilient

00:56and we do adapt and hopefully this Christmas will be our best season yet.

01:00For some on the North Coast, this year's story is very different. After back-to-back floods in 2021 and 2022,

01:08Manning River grower Matthew Carroll had planned to go to market this Christmas.

01:132023 was our real breakthrough to get a crop through, which would have been destined for market this year.

01:20But flooding in May wiped out 60% of that crop. He's staying positive though with a plan to sell his surviving 2023 catch at Easter.

01:30There's nothing at Christmas, but definitely we'll have a target at Easter time.

01:34In November, the state government allocated $20 million to a grant program aimed at helping aquaculture farmers

01:40boost production and increase sustainability.

01:43We need to sustain our industry, we need to move forward, we need investment into it.

01:48Investment needed to ensure oysters can be enjoyed into the future.

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