Disease setback for Carnarvon oyster farm

Oysters at a Forrest-backed farm near Carnarvon have been destroyed and operations stalled after a natural parasite took hold at the site.

Massey Bay Oyster Farm was touted as a prime grow-out region for Harvest Road’s burgeoning oyster offerings, where spat would be raised then sent to Albany for final growth and conditioning.

Harvest Road had hoped to grow 20 million juvenile oysters a year at the 46-hectare site having been buoyed by early results.

But the company confirmed lines used to grow oysters had been pulled from the water following an outbreak of a natural parasite known to the area.

“In early 2023 a native parasite known to exist in the area expressed as disease in the oyster stock at the Carnarvon sites,” a Harvest Road spokesperson said.

“The business responded to the detection of the disease immediately and has been working closely with DPIRD.  

“The business is assessing the potential for further aquaculture trials and research and development at the Carnarvon sites.”

Harvest Road said it remained committed to development of the industry.

The $627,000 trial in 2020 was aided by a $125,000 state government regional economic development scheme grant and was hailed as successful in November 2022.

A second farm backed by REDS and run by Tasmanian Blue Water in the Exmouth Gulf is attempting to shore up a case to grow commercial quantities of a naturally occurring species.

Another government-supported oyster project up the coast near Karratha has encountered lengthy delays but remains confident of getting product to market.

Harvest Road’s flagship akoya is produced at its Leeuwin Coast operations in Albany.