Experimental deepwater culture of the Sydney rock oyster (Crassostrea commercialis): III. Raft cultivation of trayed oysters

Sydney rock oysters, normally intertidal, were submerged below rafts in vertical stacks of 15 oyster trays extending 2 m deep. Growth rates and mortality were not good or economically encouraging. The best growth was from small culled spat (43 whole oysters/kg) to large seconds (28/kg), an increase of 59% in 9 months. The minimum mortality was 52%. Fouling growths of barnacles, tunicates, sponges and hydroids were restricted by placing experimental trays on top of the raft for several days to dry out. Compared with controls, this resulted in increased oyster growth in experimental trays during the next 6 months. Oyster mortality and incidence of mudworm blisters (resulting from the polychaete Polydora websteri) were similar in both control and experimental trays during this period. For improved growth of trayed submerged oysters the optimum vertical distance between trays and the optimum density of oysters on trays need to be determined.