Othniel Oysters Ltd leases 51 hectares of shellfish beds in Poole Harbour to farm Pacific oysters. Small, hatchery produced seed are reared in the floating nursery system to 10 grams and once laid on the sea bed take approximately 9 months to reach harvest size. OOL operates from a 30 x 15 metre, 400 ton flat-bottomed barge, moored in the shelter of Brownsea Island, providing 300sq metres of covered working space with workshop facilities for repairs and maintenance of boats and gear. Growers across the world visit to see the innovative harvesting technology using conveyor harvesting barges. Up to 3 million oysters are harvested per year, circa 400 tons, with 30% sold either locally or in the wider UK market. The rest are sold in the Far East, with Hong Kong and China as the main destinations.

The farm produces high quality Pacific Oysters Crassostrea Gigas for the wholesale trade. Retail customers can buy our oysters from www.dorsetoysters.com Othniel’s owner, Gary Wordsworth has been farming shellfish in Poole Harbour since the mid 1980’s. The farm produces around 400 tons of oysters per year, which are sold in the UK, France and the Far East.