27/05/2026
A Tale Of The Almost Forgotten Oyster That Rocks
Many fine folk who frolick along the foreshore may not know of our native rock oyster who once took pride and place along the rocky shorelines of the northern harbours. A golden meat oyster with a pearlescent shell and the ability when eaten to recall ancient memories long buried deep in the heart of happy moments of sun and season in a split second...yet now it is mainly only remembered by an older generation or those still connected to the tidal shores due to the invasion of the Pacific Oyster.
Pre 1970s the main oyster found along the rocks in the upper North Island was the NZ rock oyster. People would chip them off rocks and use a good screwdriver or chisel to shuck them or a bench mounted guillotine style knife that would make for easy access (spied a couple in some sheds up at Leigh). The shell of the rock oyster is locked along its edges with little teeth to protect it from predators and can be a hard little shucker to shuck. All was well for the rockies, glistening in their tidal dominance until the Pacific oysters started turning up in the mid to late 60s. People claim the barges that came from Japan to put the extra lanes on the harbour bridge (referred to as the Nippon Clippons) brought them in upon their hulls though old boys and gals claim to have seen them in the Kaipara before this. It was easy to spot a Pacific, standing out like a pair of dog balls amongst the smaller rock oysters. This set off alarms at governmental levels due to the invasive biosecurity threat they possessed and the war on the Pacific's started. People were conscripted to go out and destroy the invaders to stop them getting a foothold into the foreshore. YOUR FORESHORE NEEDS YOU! BASH THE BIVALVES movements were set up quickly but by the late 60s and start of the 1970s the defence was starting to fall as the rock oysters got suppressed and pushed further up the fringes of the seashore. Soon it became illegal to take rock oysters due to their rapid decline, stories of kids being used to scurry down to the rocks to prise them off while adults kept watch on the road and black market rock oyster sales were common. In the space of a handful of years the fast growing pacifics had taken over, their ability to grow to maturity within a year and a half compared to three or four for the rock oysters and their sheer size was too great for the valiant defenders of the tidal shores, the white flag went up, the NZ foreshore was changed forever and the pacific oyster industry grew forth with the quicker growing, mellower oyster.
We still get the rock oysters every now and then, put a few in trays last weekend but only one sold to an old boy who had a sly grin and a glint in his eye as he left. They occur in small niches and spots around the farms and still occupy the highest part of the tidal fringes where the pacifics don't enjoy to be, both species living together in salted harmony since the Bon Accord Oyster Accord peace agreement was signed in 1977. Displaying a deep rich, savoury, mettalic flavour that grows and lingers long after it is devoured, their small size belies their power that some find to hard to handle the jandal of. They are an absolutely beautiful oyster in shell and shellfish as if they've managed to capture the rays of the sun in their clasping grasp, using that warmth for only themselves to enjoy, love and turn into their own beauty of sunshine spun from the sea. Forgotten but not gone. Long live the rock oyster!
Fun Facts
* rock oysters can live out of the water for weeks, people would keep them in a hessian sack under a hedge for ages some feeding them up on bran to fatten them up
* often fat in Summer months when the Pacific's are skinny
* same oyster as the Sydney rock oyster but better because it's not Australian (joking, love you Ozzies!). The kiwi rockies were used to seed the Australian rock oyster industry after they stripped them all.
*Maori called them Tio reperepe and they were highly prized.
* Swing both ways...sometimes male, sometimes female...huzzah!
