As specialists in the space of equipment required for oyster farming and being a dedicated oyster basket supplier, Hexcyl Systems fully appreciate the art of single seed oyster farming and understand the quality of equipment required to successfully farm shellfish. We firmly believe that the quality of our products and the success Hexcyl Systems has had in becoming a preferred oyster basket supplier has to do with the fact that we have respect for the history and evolution of oyster farming itself. Evidence suggests that the existence of ancient oyster shell middens trace the collection of wild native oysters by indigenous Australian Aboriginals to at least six thousand years before European settlement had taken place.
It was recorded that the first European convicts, soldiers and settlers began harvesting native oysters as a food source from rocks, natural oyster reefs, mangroves and mud flats as early as 1778. In 1848 just fourteen years after the South Australian Colonisation Act was passed in the United Kingdom the harvest of native Angasi shellfish species took off in the region of Coffin Bay. Soon after the harvest of wild Angasi oysters in South Australian waters become the State’s first licenced fishery.
The commercial harvest of wild grown native Angasi oysters in and around the waters of Coffin Bay continued unabated for nearly a century which saw a rapid decline then the collapse of the fishery around 1945. The fairly primitive oyster farming methods in NSW in 1866 consisted of the rudimentary setting of rows rocks out along the shoreline and mud flat of coastal rivers and become the favoured method for setting and growing out of Sydney rock oysters.
The next century saw many trials with pioneering Sydney Rock oyster farmers experimenting with different methods and materials ultimately evolving into timber stick and tray culture systems that have dominated the NSW industry up until this past decade. That farming evolution is continuing and Hexcyl Systems is well placed to service and support the growing uptake of intertidal and surface floating farming infrastructure.
Hexcyl Baskets
Hexcyl Systems is increasingly being chosen as the preferred supplier of oyster baskets due to the knowledge and understanding we have of the requirements for successfully housing and growing oysters and the impacts the growing environments have on the baskets and other associated farming equipment.
We have intentionally developed a basket that caters to professionals and novices alike. Being an Australian based oyster basket supplier, we understand that this equipment needed to be specifically designed to cope with being left out in the harsh Australian sun and be exposed the harsh UV 100% of its farming life. For both economic and environmental reasons we strive to ensure continuous improvement of the design and materials of our baskets occur wherever possible to improve on the already impressive results of robustness and longevity.
Our knowledge and experience has culminated in the manufacture of five different mesh sized baskets ideally for different stages of grow-out from spat to sales with a 25 litre capacity. The efficient geometry of the hexagonal basket design is ideally suited to cater for growing commercially viable quantities of oysters. Generally our baskets were purposely designed for growing both deep ‘cupped’ shaped and flat oysters but they are also well suited to scallops, sea urchins and a potential host of other types of shellfish that growers may be looking to farm.
If you’re chasing extra grow out capacity in your baskets then the Hexcyl Pro basket could be the perfect solution to help grow your business. You will experience the Hexcyl difference when using the 25 litre Pro-Series range with the additional sixty-six percent increased volume compared to a typically available undersized 15 litre basket.
Our baskets have been designed and crafted to be robust enough to withstand the rigors of daily use and abuse so combined with improved oyster quality and carrying capacity, Hexcyl baskets become a natural choice for economic and environmentally sustainable shellfish farming. If the Hexcyl range of oyster baskets and accessories fit with the economic and environmental culture of your business, then we have you covered.
Why Go Oyster Farming?
For most all recreational fishers the enjoyment comes from immersing themselves in the coastal environments as much as the activity of fishing itself. Whether catching fish from the shore or by boat or gathering of wild shellfish along the shoreline the satisfaction of reaping and consuming the bounty from the sea is an intrinsic part of the enjoyment of the experience. First time visitors to an oyster farm often remark on the working environment with comments like ‘Gee sure looks like a good way to stay fit’ and ‘wow, what an amazing office to come work in every day’, particularly when the sun is out, skies are blue and breeze is light.
The gulf between perception and reality is quickly bridged when avid seafood consumers and oyster eaters visit a farm and see for themselves the methods and infrastructure and level of work involved in growing one of the most coveted delicacies of the sea. Unfortunately for commercial oyster farmers the skies are not always blue and the seas are not always calm but there in itself lays the challenge of working with nature. Sharing tales of people’s individual oyster farming experiences is like all good fishing stories, it’s in the retelling, the weather was always better, the water and sea life was amazing and the oysters freshly shucked straight out of the sea were the best they’d ever eaten in their lives.
Some people get to briefly enjoy the oyster farm experience maybe one day in their life, we oyster growers on the other hand are fortunate to be able to make a living from farming one of Neptune’s favourite dish’s in some of the world’s most beautiful marine environments every day of the week.