The location of the Portland Oyster beds, in front of the Crab House Cafe™ itself, means that diners can have mouth-watering Portland Oysters on the table within minutes of them leaving the water.

We use new and innovative Australian Oyster Growing Systems with mesh baskets and timber post and rail rows.

There have been Oysters in the fleet since Roman times. The Native Oyster, OSTREA EDULIS, has been prized throughout the history and was the Oyster of choice until recently when disease, over fishing and pollution seriously depleted the wild stocks. The more robust Pacific Oyster CRASSOSTREA GIGAS has since taken place in the market place and is the preferred Oyster for cultivation worldwide.

Growing on juveniles from hatchery seed to market size taking roughly three years. This continued under the name of Abbotsbury Oysters until end 2004.

Under new ownership in 2004, it was decided to clear the, by now almost derelict and non functional, site and introduce new and innovative Oyster growing systems for Australia. The Australian systems consists of timber post and rail rows carrying purpose made enclosed plastic mesh baskets – AQUAPURSE. The company, TOOLTECH, from Brisbane, QLD, exports these systems worldwide but AQUAPURSE is new to Europe. Open top ‘baskets’ similar to Tasmania are also used.

Part grown Oysters (30-40mm) are sourced from the Channel Islands and relaid in the Fleet AQUAPURSE for between 7-12 months. By this time they are of marketable size.