Oyster farming on Georges River, commercial aquaculture of Sydney Rock Oysters, in the Georges River estuary of New South Wales, Australia, occurred between around 1870 and 2023. Production peaked in the 1970s. In the financial year 1976–1977,[1] the river produced 2,563 tonnes of oysters, over a quarter of the record statewide production total of 9,375 tonnes (the state total being equivalent to 204 million individual oysters).[2] Following a series of setbacks after that year, an outbreak of QX disease in 1994, all but totally destroyed the industry on the Georges River; the development of QX-resistant strains came too late to save much of it.[3] In 2023, the last oyster farm in the estuary was forced to close,[4] and its future as an oyster growing area is now uncertain.[5]
- ^ "Georges River oysters". Georges Riverkeeper. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ^ NSW Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy (PDF). NSW Department of Primary Industries. 2016. pp. 6–10.
- ^ NSW Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy (PDF). NSW Department of Primary Industries. 2016. p. 6.
- ^ "'Disgraceful example of government bureaucracy': Last oyster farmer forced out". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ^ "Oyster industry revival". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. 2 October 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2023.