At normal times of the year, all roads lead to Ston, Vijesti.hr reports. But due to the bad epidemiological situation, Oyster Days were canceled for the second year. Instead of guests, Tomo Šare takes journalists on a voyage through the Mali Ston Bay.
This type of oyster is extraordinary as it only grows only here in the whole world. It takes 3 years to grow to consumer size; every year in May and June, that cycle begins. The oyster then drops up to a million eggs into the sea, and breeders posit collectors.
“As the sea passes through the collectors, everything catches oysters, mussels, and grass. We aim to make the oysters look like this after a year of growth,” explains Tomislav Šare, caterer.
After they are removed from the collector, the so-called cementation follows. “We glue 25 oysters on one and 25 on the other to return to the sea. They grow for another two years, depending on the position as they develop”, says Tomislav.
One million oysters are grown in Mali Ston Bay every year, and due to the pandemic last year, only 30 percent of the crop was placed. Shell fishers are suffering huge losses and coping, from the virtual marketplace to selling on doorsteps.
“These are negligible quantities to which we have been accustomed so far. They went to the catering facilities who prepared so much, which is now missing. There are a lot of goods left, and even if it were launched, we would not have enough for our county, let alone exports”, says Marija Maškarić, president of the Stonski Školjkari Association.
With one-time assistance and monthly support for job preservation, they requested compensatory measures from the state.
“Both requests were sent for both reference periods, but to date, there is no concrete information for payments. We hope, we expect, we believe, we are promised. That would be a great help for shellfish farmers to continue production”, adds Marija Maškarić.
The Mali Ston oyster recently received the European protected designation of origin. As much as half a million kuna of European funds is worth a marketing project that should help shellfish in corona crisis times.
“The product is presented as well as possible, and that actually aims to increase consumption per person to the visitor. We cannot change our county’s attendance. We cannot change the structure of guests. What we can do is present our product to be sold in as large a quantity as possible”, explains Vedran Kunica, project manager of the protection of Mali Ston oysters.
Instead of the traditional oyster festival on the holiday of St. Joseph, the Oyster Queen project was presented. “Every area has sights that are a must-see, to make special oysters from Mali Ston, an unavoidable product for every visitor to our County,” says Vedran.
While we wait for the restaurants to open and the tourists to return, oysters are sold on doorsteps.
“The best, the most delicious, and the top quality, it’s a shame not to consume it now. The situation is as it is; there are always breeders who sell on the farm, whoever has the desire can always stop by to consume oysters”, says the president of the Ston shellfish association.
They are also preparing a bilingual extensive monograph on Mali Ston Bay’s natural features and the long tradition of shellfish farming.
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