Tasmanian Oyster Co
Producer Profile - Tasmanian Oyster Co.
Meet Tony Byrne, a veteran of oyster farming in Tasmania for almost 40 years and learn how this Tassie company grew from an idea to an international leader in oyster production.
This Tasmanian success story had humble beginnings in 1979 after a meeting of oyster farmers in a chicken shed at Lenah Valley, in Southern Tasmania.
Known then as Shellfish Culture, they set up their first hatchery at Bicheno in 1980, and their first commercial nursery at Pipeclay Lagoon in 1983, focussing on growing spats (baby oysters) for the local and international oyster industry.
Becoming an unlisted public company in 1989 enabled new facilities and rapid growth, the hatchery achieving 50 million spat sales by 1992, and international spat sales by 2010.
Shellfish Culture integrated with Tasmanian Oyster Co. (TOC) in 2019 and started selling mature oysters to the consumer market. By 2022 they had sold a milestone one million dozen mature oysters!
Today, the company employs over 100 people across multiple growing regions: Pipeclay Lagoon near Clifton Beach, Cowell in South Australia, Boomer Bay (Dunalley), Pittwater, Duck Bay at Smithton, and Little Swanport.
TOC is now the largest vertically integrated oyster business in Australia, producing, processing and marketing premium oysters for both the Australian domestic and export markets.
Tony Byrne, Farm Liaison at TOC, has been an oyster grower for almost 40 years and put his first oysters into the water at his family’s farming property at Pittwater about three days after snow fell to sea level in Southern Tasmania in 1986.
We caught up with Tony and asked him a few questions about oysters and what has kept him in this industry so long.
Q: Your career in oysters started almost 40 years ago – what led you to oysters?
We were farming sheep and some crops at our family farm at Pittwater when some oyster growers asked us for access to the water from our land. One suggested I take a lease. Oyster growing has similarities to land farming in that you have stock to grow and care for, and it felt like just another type of farming to me.
Q: Did you ever imagine you’d still be in the oyster game 40+ years on? What’s kept you there?
Well, you just go with it. You don’t really think about it – we built it up over time, and one thing led to another. There were many different groups of farmers and iterations before we all came together in 2019 as TOC.
Q: What is special about your oysters?
We grow oysters in quite a variety of different waters. We can offer regionality. For example, the oysters from Boomer Bay are a little different to the ones from Smithton, and those differ from Pittwater. The tidal flows are different between each farm and can give a different flavour profile. Because we have the hatchery we can target family lines which suit different waters.
Q: What do you like most about being a producer in Tasmania?
The team you work with. We have a great team of diverse people with great skill sets. We have a lot of women on the team now which has made a difference, it’s great to have a mix. It’s wonderful to have people that you can trust, doing it as a team. It’s a big business now and our people are amazing. You just need to give them the right tools and the right supports.
Q: What are the challenges?
The environment and the climate. In 2016 Tasmania was hit with Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome (POMS) and it was pretty devastating. But it was an opportunity to consolidate, to scale up and reduce our exposure by operating diverse sites as well as our own hatchery. Today when we are hit by significant rainfall events which close us down for 21 days, we can move the oysters to another site.
Q: How do you like to eat oysters?
Raw, and I love to try different dressings. In Melbourne recently I had a pomegranate vinaigrette which was really nice. Mango and bubbles is also very good.
Q: What’s the future for TOC?
Just making consistency of our product better and better and also getting our brand recognition out there. We really have only existed as a company in our current form since 2019 and there’s still a lot of room to do things more efficiently, and to grow people’s faith in our product even further. I love being out amongst consumers when I moonlight as an Oyster Butler at events for TOC including Hill Street West Hobart’s recent 10th birthday celebrations. I really enjoy talking oysters, educating and giving people an amazing experience.
Oyster tastings & WIN an exclusive oyster experience!
And starting next Friday 14 November, we’re excited to be hosting the lovely people from Tasmanian Oyster Co. shucking fresh Tassie oysters at our stores so you can try for yourself these delicious oysters!
You'll find Tasmanian Oyster Co offering freshly shucked oysters in-store each Friday afternoon between 2.30-5.30pm, starting with Devonport, Dodges Ferry and Sandy Bay. They will then work their way around to the other stores until all our customers have been treated with tastings, all the while learning a thing or two about Tasmanian Oyster Co. and how they grow, harvest and take care of these incredibly delicious gifts of nature from Tassie’s pristine waters.
Plus, don’t miss out on this special offer!
Anyone who orders Tasmanian Oyster Co. oysters from our Festive Food Order Form, goes into the draw to win an exclusive oyster experience curated by Tasmanian Oyster Co.
The experience includes a tour of the working shed for up to six people, learning about the various sorting and grading machinery, a boat trip around the racks (weather permitting), and then back to the shed for some oyster tastings, a charcuterie board and some Tasmanian bubbles! Order your oysters to enter now!
