Oman oyster project cuts mortality to 1%

Starting in May 2014, a team led by Olivier Guerlorget, who also serves as aquaculture advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries introduced oyster spats to a site in the marina in batches of 10,000 every three months, selecting over time for traits such as vitality, shape morphology, and shell/meat ratio. According to Guerlorget, the oysters had an extremely low mortality rate, compared to oysters grown in Europe.

“Slowly, I worked to increase the quality and sustainability of these oysters in a tropical environment by genetic selection. Slowly these spats grew, and I was very surprised because there was no mortality. Normally, in France, mortality is around 60-65% in the juvenile phase. Here, we had less than 1%​,” he said.

‘The environment is wonderful’​

Guerlorget explained that while commercial oysters are normally thought of as a cold-water species, the waters around Oman are highly suited to she shellfish: “There is no mortality, because first, the environment is wonderful. There’s no climate change – oysters are very sensitive to thermic variations. In Europe, when the water falls below 8C, the oysters don’t grow – so you have many months where they are not growing. There is also great variation in sunlight, and in food.​

“Oysters are feeder filters, and mainly eat plankton. During the many cold months of the winter season, they don’t have any food – but here, all throughout the year, there is high quality food​,” he added, saying the limestone geology of Oman also means the waters are rich in carbonates, giving the oysters everything they need to grow a healthy shell.

Oman oysters win blind test​

The next developmental steps for the oysters, which are cultivated on a 100m long-line, will be to improve the quality of the shell through further rounds of selection. But Guerlorget says he is already very happy with the overall quality of the oysters – so much so that he was confident enough to organise a blind tasting with some of Oman’s top chefs.

“I organised a meeting with the French chefs from some international hotels – Crowne Plaza, Intercontinental, Hyatt and others – and put on the table some famous French oysters, and then my oysters, with a small spot on the shell. Believe me – 95% of the most appreciated oysters were the Omani oysters​,” said Guerlorget.

In the longer term, Almouj Marina hopes to obtain protected-origin status for the oysters, and position them as a premium oyster brand. Guerlorget says he is also in the process of developing aquaculture projects for scallops and seaweed, which he believes could see similar success to the oysters.