With a diversified seed plan, we can meet year round demand and produce our famous deep-cupped shell. In essence, the nursery gives us greater control of our stock, quality, shape and size. One of the main reasons we can do this is our state-of-the-art nursery, which BIM (the Irish State Agency for fisheries) helped us create and develop. While most other oyster farms stop their sales during the summer months, we at Harty Oysters continue to sell all year through – 52 weeks of the year. In the third year we turn the bags one last time which helps to give the oysters a longer shelf life when they are finally bought in, packaged and sold. In the second year the bags are turned five times and then graded for size again. We then grade and re-bag the oysters in 9mm bags, thinning them out so they have more space to grow. Our oysters start their lives in 4mm bags: in the first year we turn the bags over three times, thereby ensuring the best possible shape.

We prefer to control the life cycle of the oyster for as long as possible as it means we can tend and grow the ‘speciale’ oyster to the highest standards as quickly as possible which also makes them stronger and healthier. When purchasing the smaller sizes, we place the spat in our state-of-the-art nursery, which has the capacity to grow 2 to 3 million seed on a 6 week cycle (when is then placed on the tidal strand of our 90 hectares oyster park). The oyster seed varies in size from 1mm up to 12mm in length. Each year, we import up to 30 million seed (in line with standards set out by the Marine Institute and the Department of the Marine). That’s why, every year, we import oyster seed (called spat, or ‘naissain’ in French) from leading hatcheries in France (France is both Europe’s largest producer and consumer of oysters).Ĭommercial oysters can be either naturally or hatchery produced (using strong brood stock which has been harvested and tested especially for European waters).Īt Harty Oysters we import oyster seed every year and continuously monitor the growth cycle in order to guarantee a regular supply of ‘speciale’ oysters to our customers. The story of oyster farming in Ireland dates back centuries, but nowadays the Gigas oyster does not occur naturally in Irish seas.

Oyster spat purchase