Fal and Helford Oysters
Most locals will have seen the famous Falmouth Working Boats racing in the Fal Estuary or will have seen the many GRP Working Boats built as pleasure cruisers by Martin Heard's Tregatreath Boatyard at Mylor. Not all will be aware that traditionally they spend their winter dredging for native oysters on the Truro Oyster Fishery. The Truro Fishery represents the last oyster fleet in the world still working under sail and the fleet are now the only commercial sailing left in Europe. The Fishery operates under a Regulation Order issued by DEFRA, the administration of which was previously the responsibility of the Truro Corporation but was passed on to Carrick District Council when they amalgamated The Fishery is restricted under the Order and has strict rules that dredgermen must abide by.
The oyster season starts on the 1st November and closes on the 31st March, the working hours are 0900hrs to 1500hrs Monday to Friday and 0900hrs to 1300hrs on Saturday. The oysters are wild and propagate naturally, consequently the stock size fluctuates form season to season and in order to prevent over-fishing a minimum size of 67mm is imposed and the Carrick Council oyster bailiff is responsible for policing it. All dredgermen must be licensed but as it's an open Fishery as there's no restriction on the number of licences that can be issued.
The Truro Oyster Fishery has been worked for hundreds of years and many of the boats still working it were built locally for the Fishery during the late 1800's, remarkably the oldest still working is "Shadow" which was built at Point by Frank Hitchens in 1870 The fleet size has varied greatly from a peak of perhaps a few hundred during the 1800's to a current size of 10 to 25 boats according to how good the oyster season is, but there is no reason it can't grow again as long as the stock can sustain them.
In the past most oysters were sold young to merchants who fattened them before selling them direct to the restaurants, however after a disease called Bonamia closed the Fishery between 1982 and 1990 those markets were lost. The new markets had to adapt to an industry post-Bonamia where oysters can no longer be relaid so oysters had to be larger and ready for sale without relaying. Many of the oysters were bought by East Coast merchants from Kent & Essex, but a large number remained in Cornwall as the Hodges family who have run the Duchy Oyster Farm at Porth Navas have always been a large buyer of oysters from the Fal. From the Helford the oysters were sold to all the top markets in the UK as well as on the Continent.
The oysters we sell now are generally 3-4 years old as opposed to the 2 year old brood oysters that were sold for the old relay markets before Bonamia. The oysters on the Truro Fishery are the European Flat Oyster Ostrea edulis more commonly known as the Native Oyster. Summer is a close season when the oysters are breeding, the warm water triggers the spawn release and the young oyster larvae have a 10-12 day free swimming period at the end of which those that have survived the plankton-eating predators must settle on clean shell. Once a clean area for settlement is found the oyster attaches itself and never moves again unless moved by tide, waves or oyster dredgermen. During their lifetime they may change sex and even spend a period as hermaphrodites.
The oysters suffer a high mortality annually in part due to their weakness as a result of spawning, but there are other pressures on the oyster stock too. The biggest currently comes from the competitor the slipper limpet - Crepidula fornicata - which competes with the oyster for food. The slipper limpet usually wins the competition and may in a worst case scenario cover the Fishery to a depth of several feet smothering the oysters beneath in the process. Predators include starfish and oyster drills as well of course the oyster dredgermen themselves. A new oyster drill is becoming a nuisance on the Continent and has already started to spread in the UK. It is the Ocinebrellus inornatus, an inch long fast breeding oyster drill from Japan.