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The Bluff oyster - the national delicacy plucked from Foveaux Strait each year - could soon be coming from other waters to the plates of oyster lovers.
But Bluff oyster promoters say the newcomer will never match the original.
The same species of flat oyster harvested off the coast of Bluff, at the bottom of the South Island, is being farmed in waters off Marlborough at the other end of the island, with a view to supplying North Island restaurants.
Marine farmer Bruce Hearn hopes that by February or March he will be selling whole-shell oysters, but on a much smaller scale than the millions of oysters harvested from Bluff.
It has taken Mr Hearn 20 years to get to this point of marine farming production. Restaurants will be given samples to test.
"What the future holds, who knows?" he told the Herald. "We certainly won't be calling them Bluff oysters."
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt is determined that the Bluff oyster's prized reputation, and the $40 million industry it supports, will be protected.
The name "Bluff oyster" could not be trademarked, but a "Foveaux Strait" mark had been placed on the shellfish after an Auckland biologist claimed he could replicate the Bluff oyster in a laboratory.
"We don't mind people trying to emulate the Bluff oyster," Mr Shadbolt said. "Copying is the highest form of flattery. As long as they don't market it as the Foveaux Strait Bluff oyster. Then we will get upset."
Bluff Community Board chairwoman Jan Mitchell said nothing could rival the Bluff oyster
"There's a couple of very secret ingredients down here," she said.
"It's all to do with the tidal flows and the cooler temperature, and that is what gives the Bluff oyster its unique taste.
"They may farm a similar variety, but it will not be a competitor to the Bluff oyster."
Graham Wright, of the Bluff Oyster Management Company, said the same species of oyster was already produced in Nelson and on Stewart Island, though not in any great commercial quantities.
"To my mind, you will never substitute the Foveaux Strait environment with any marine farm environment."
The chef at Euro Restaurant and Bar, Simon Gault, hired a private jet last year so his could be the first Auckland restaurant to have new-season Bluff oysters on the menu.
But he said he was excited about trying the oysters from Marlborough, and was open to considering them alongside the Bluff oyster.
"It's all about taste. They might be better. Who knows?"
Mr Wright said the new Bluff oyster season, starting on March 1, was expected to be a good one. Last season, 7.5 million oysters were quickly snapped up.
