Welcome to Kooringal Oysters
Growers of Sydney Rock Oysters on Moreton Island
The Oysters
The oysters produced by Kooringal Oysters are Sydney Rock (Saccostrea glomerata), a native species to Moreton Bay. These oysters take between two and three years to reach saleable size, in which the warmer months produce the ‘fattest’ best-eating oysters. Spat is collected locally, as well as from commercial hatcheries in NSW.
The predominant farming practice that has been adopted for oyster growing here is the use of suspended baskets on 100m long line systems.
Oyster production is very labour-intensive, mainly due to efforts made in reducing over-catch or settling wild oysters that spat on the farmed oysters and infrastructure. If primary oysters are covered, they need to either be manually ‘culled’, which involves removal via a knife, or the oysters will need to be discarded altogether. To reduce the chances of this being necessary, every oyster is removed from the water every three months and either air-dried or boiled to kill any wild spat.
Located around 40km from the mainland, Kooringal Oysters’ leases are not subjected to land-based run-off. As such, water quality here is high, and has no history of QX disease.
The Kooringal Oyster Farm
At Kooringal Oysters we produce Sydney Rock Oysters.
These oysters are farmed throughout their entire life cycle in Moreton Bay Marine Park waters. The resulting quality and dense, complex flavour is unique, and differentiates local rock oysters from our estuary grown variation.
If you’re a local wholesaler interested in our product, get in touch with our friendly team today. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
The Island
The shallow inter-tidal sandbanks at Kooringal Oysters farm allow for hundreds of kilometres worth of suspended basket lines in healthy, undisturbed leases.
Kooringal Oysters is entirely managed, run, and overseen by a small production team. This means we have plenty of holiday working opportunities for the environmentally conscious. For more information or to express interest, please get in touch!
Our Research
Kooringal Oysters is engaged in a number of research projects with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. These include evaluations of various rock oyster species to assess their growth rate, size, and quality in comparison to the endemic species.
Kooringal Oysters is also a co-founder and collaborator in the large-scale project, ‘Reduction of oyster waste: Establishing best practices for controlling wild spat under commercial production’, which is funded by QDAF, Food Waste CRC, FRDC, SED Graders and Moreton Bay Rock Oysters. This project was created to see the first full-scale commercial evaluation of the hyper-saline cold shock treatment in controlling over-catch. Its technology (provided by SED graders) will be demonstrated during designated field days (2024-25).
Due to the research backgrounds of our very own Andrew and Leisa, the extensive land and water lease we have available, and the quality of the water here, KO is happy and open to discussing research collaborations about optimal use of this amazing location.
Kooringal Oysters' Private Airstrip
Kooringal Oysters offers a private airstrip for both commercial and recreational pilots. This stunning slice of paradise here on the southernmost tip of Moreton Island (Malgumpin) has convenient amenities located on-site to ensure your visit is made all the easier.
A look into Kooringal Oysters
Fly into the stunning Moreton Island with Kooringal Oysters
Book your flight time with our airstrip today.