Impact of devastating floods on NSW oyster farm stock and infrastructure

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Oyster farmers on the New South Wales Mid North Coast have been assessing damage after record-breaking floods lashed the region last month. On the Manning River, farmers have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock and infrastructure However, some are staying positive, saying the upcoming decade could be the region's best for oyster production.

Transcript

00:00Ian Crisp spent an entire week preparing for the record-breaking mid-north coast floods.

00:09So we thought we were pretty, pretty well prepared, but we might as well not have bothered.

00:14We might as well have just gone to the pub and just let it go.

00:17At the height of the disaster, they were using their punt to rescue stranded residents,

00:22while floodwaters tangled their leases, leaving the future of their younger oysters in doubt.

00:28That stock will be, you know, if it's not dead, it'll be stunted or knocked around and take a long time to recover if it does.

00:37The Manning River rose more than three and a half metres above average here at the Crisp's Place,

00:43the floodwaters washing away thousands of oyster baskets and damaging vital infrastructure and machinery.

00:49But there's a possible silver lining.

00:52The Manning is the only river in the southern hemisphere with two openings to the sea,

00:57and while one of them is blocked more often than not, the newly overflowing river has just helped open it up.

01:04It makes a massive difference when you have both entrances open to get rid of that water.

01:09Mother Nature has done the job for us.

01:12The salinity will come back bigger and better and the oysters will absolutely power on.

01:17So that is a dead set positive.

01:20And a much needed one.

01:22Matt and Peter Carroll had their upcoming Christmas harvest washed away.

01:26We've probably lost half a million Sydney Rock oysters, about 2023 catch.

01:31They'd like to see both entrances kept open permanently.

01:35Or some sort of system that will help the estuary survive.

01:39The local council does have a management plan and carved a flood notch before this event.

01:45But farmers are calling for greater state government involvement.

01:48Maintenance dredging channels to it.

01:50Make sure that we've got a much better chance in a flood of getting that water away and off the flood plain.

01:58For now, the water is flowing.

02:00We're expecting the next decade to be pretty productive here.

02:07You've just got to hope that the rest of the industry has the confidence and the money to continue to reinvest and get cracking.

02:14A pearl of hope amid the devastation.

02:18A pearl of hope amid the devastation.

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