Oyster growers in Tasmania's Coal River Valley harvest late after sewage leak quarantine
Oyster growers in Coal River in south east Tasmania have begun harvesting close to 1 million oysters that were quarantined after a sewage leak late last year just prior to the busy Christmas period.
(Picture : Oysters Tasmania)
Oysters Tasmania says it won't have a problem selling the remaining oysters but want a meeting with the state government and Tas Water to ensure future leaks are avoided.
Executive Officer of Oysters Tasmania, Adam Saddler, said farmers affected by the leak are up and running but need a guarantee on their future.
"It wasn't the best end to 2014 for a few of the farmers but they are back open now harvesting as we speak and hopeful they will be able to get off what they lost in revenue over the coming months," he said.
"We need to get firstly on top of the infrastructure problem and issues and challenges, but more so is to stop these issues from happening so we can maintain our image and brand.
"One of the big issues that we have to be really clear on is about the impact that this has on Tasmania and the brand Tasmania."
Mr Saddler said an invitation for the State Government, oyster growers and Tas Water has been sent out, but needs to happen immediately to make sure no further damage to the oyster industry occurs.
"These things can be prevented, so I don't think it's unfair particularly from a growers point of view, to expect that they have an environment that they can produce their quality oysters in".
Source : ABC Rural James Joost January 7th 2014
