All nine oyster farmers, leasing plots on the Myall River, between the Singing Bridge and Corrie Island, have packed up their stock and moved to outlying areas with higher salinity.

Moderate rainfalls last month have seen the Myall River’s salinity decrease to a level that is not conducive to the production of quality oysters.

“Usually after heavy rainfalls we’d expect the river to return to normal salinity levels after about three weeks but it’s taking up to 10 weeks for the fresh water to be flushed out,” said Mr Hunter.

Conducting regular salinity checks on the river, Mr Hunter said he recorded a level eight salinity reading on Friday - oysters require a minimum salinity level of 18 to grow to a healthy standard.

“You just can’t get oysters in low salinity. We produce world class oysters in this area under good conditions, but in low salinity they get a very muddy taste and a discolouration. It’s like trying to make cows graze where there is no grass,” he said.

“There used to be massive harvests in this area, but the moving of stock has just increased pressure in other areas.”

Mr Hunter, a member of the Myall River Action Group, said the obvious solution is to dredge the original river mouth enabling a faster exchange of salt water ensuring a healthier river system: a sentiment he said is shared by the local oyster farming community.

“It’s not rocket science they’ve dredged that channel since 1890 and consecutively every 20 years but the recent governments have failed.”

At the present time water travelling out of the river system has two possible exit points – the eastern or original channel, which at times is shallow enough to walk over and the navigational channel, which Great Lakes Council has announced will be dredged following concerns it too is silting up.

However Mr Hunter said council’s plan to dredge the navigational channel is only a bandaid solution and will not fix the greater problem at hand.

Aside from low salinity levels there are concerns that the river’s current condition may foster a blue-green algae outbreak and the National Parks and Wildlife is currently conducting tests on the water.

In the meantime Mr Hunter said production of oysters on the Myall River is no longer viable and he will be selling his leases back to the Department of Primary Industries over the next 12 months.