With improved cultivation methods & increased lease areas, the NSW Sydney rock oyster industry experienced growth during the 1950s & ‘60s. Then, around 1970, production rapidly increased from about 10 to 14 million dozen (6,000 to 8,400 tons), peaking in the mid-1970s with about 9,970 tons of oysters per annum. By 1999 / 2000, annual production stabilised at eight million dozen.

 

Commercial production in NSW now takes place in 41 estuaries stretching from Wonboyn in the south through to Tweed River in the north. The selected sites are held under about 3,200 aquaculture leases covering a total area of about 4,300 hectares, all of which are administered of the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

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With an annual production of more than 106 million oysters valued at more than $35 million, oyster farming has been the most valuable aquaculture industry in NSW for more than a century.

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