What did we learn at the AA10 Oyster Session?

The Australian edible oyster sector was the subject of a special session at Australasian Aquaculture 2010 (AA10) held on 24 May in Hobart, Tasmania. Co-chaired by Tom Lewis of Oysters Tasmania and Rachel King of the Seafood CRC Oyster Consortium, the session focussed on the business of growing and selling oysters in Australia and prospects for selling them overseas.

Peter Redmond of the Global Aquaculture Alliance kicked off the session, suggesting that environmental accreditation is becoming an increasingly powerful means of developing and maintaining markets. Evidence suggests that environmental accreditation programs are treading a similar path to food safety programs: which once allowed suppliers to command a premium and are now just market entry requirements.

This opinion was tempered by James Calvert of Tas Prime Oysters, who showed that while the potential market in China is huge, the opportunities for entering that market are (at present) not. James reported that Australi'’s once 'premium' reputation has slipped, while we are still at the higher end of price for imported oysters. James suggested that environmental accreditation is not going to be a driver for accessing Chinese markets in the near future.

One of the reasons James provided for the Chinese consumer having a relatively poor opinion of domestically produced oysters was the perceived view that they are usually grown in unregulated, polluted conditions. This is potentially a key market differentiator for Australian oysters – and Cath Macleod (SARDI) and Mark Tamplin (UTAS) are leading research projects to help understand and assure the safety and shelf life of our oysters.

International variations in what is termed an 'Acceptable Level of Protection' (ALOP) can lead to some confusion when entering export markets. For example, the USA is considering an upper limit of 10,000 cells of the pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus per gram of oyster meat, while Japan is looking at a limit of 100 cells per gram. A better understanding of the behaviour of pathogens in our oysters – Mark'’s team has shown that V. parahaemolyticus dies at temperatures below 15ºC in Pacific oysters – will help us define and validate supply chain conditions that will help us gain access to these markets.

Both Mark and Cath's current (and future) work aims to improve quality of oysters at retail level in the Australian domestic market. After years of working to Australian Shellfish Quality Assurance Program requirements, growers are turning to transporters, processors and retailers with predictive tools to make sure they're handling oysters as they should.

To bring us back to the world of the business of oyster farming, Shane Comiskey gave an overview of average business profitability performance as part of a Seafood CRC project. And a couple of our local growers – Jon Poke from Smithton and Ewan McAsh from Batemans Bay – gave a marvellous insight into the business realities of running oyster farms. They made it sound simple. No, not simple to carry off, but simple to understand.

The key message was to treat your business as a business. Understand that you can’t manage what you can't measure – and then think carefully about what parameters you want to measure and how you'll measure them.

Jon talked about the importance of monitoring monthly data relating to budgets, the ratio of wages to sales, value gained per employee-hour and, naturally, annual total production.

Ewan told the story of the formation of McAsh oysters, how they set clear strategic targets that set them on a clear path to profitability. These strategies were aimed at four main areas: becoming more efficient, producing more oysters, adding value and reducing costs. Ewan also told how, when they chose to ignore one of their own key strategies, it didn't work and it's going to cost them for the next three years.

One of the key decisions that Jon and Ewan have made is the type of stock they choose to grow. They understand the need for a solid breeding program and were very interested in the demonstration of the success of a US Pacifics oyster selection program presented by Chris Langdon of Oregon State Uni. Chris showed how their well-resourced program has achieved an increase in yield (growth x survival) in the order of 4% per generation over the past 3 years.

And so, we continue to learn how much more there is to learn about breeding, growing, marketing and distributing safe and wholesome oysters to domestic and export markets. Challenges and opportunities abound. It was great to spend time amongst such a keen and open group – those for whom the oyster really is their world.