Living Moments - N°4 Edition 2017

130 7TaTYR 8ZXPY_^ Edition 4 · 2016/17 “It is not the cold which bothers the oysters so much! But when it freezes the ice trundles like a roller over the oyster beds and destroys everything!” « After every step, “sabsh!” All at once, the rubber boots are ankle-deep in the water. Then the North Sea reaches almost to the knees. And a short while later we are there – in the tideland off List; before us, beside us, behind us, the sea and, in between, the Sylt Royal. The only oyster that is cultivated in Germany. Now there is low tide, the oyster beds peek out of the water. When the flood comes, the metal racks again disappear, with the net bags in which the oysters grow, under the sea. A nursery with running water, sunshine and great care. Christof- fer Bohlig,marine biologist, graduate engineer and manager at Dittmeyer’s Austern Compagnie, takes care of his “charges” which can become as big as a man’s hand and which seem to enjoy the game of low and high tide. He takes care of the only oyster farm in Germany. 100 tons are produced here every year and around a million of these deli- cate clams are sent to connoisseurs. That sounds like a lot. But it is not. By comparison; in France they produce 240,000 tons per year. There, the luxurious clam is to be found more often on the menu as a matter-of-course, than on her eastern neighbour’s. What grows in the mud off List, on Sylt, is the Pacific cupped oyster – as are nearly 95 per cent of all oysters which end up on plates worldwide. “It grows fast, and it is also robust!” states the giant-like man, with his woollen cap pulled down over his face. Here in the tideland he checks the stocks, growth and water conditions. The European oyster, which back then was found off Sylt, was rigorously overfished. Disease killed the last specimens and, since at least the 1950s, it has been practically extinct. But around 1870 there was a total of 47 oyster beds between Rome (Dutch: Rømø), Sylt, Amrum and Foehr, several of which were more than four kilometres long. In Keitum, Hoernum and List, oyster fishery was a crucial source of income. It was not until 1986 that List started oyster farming. And they were able to fall back on a long period of experience, because oysters are among the oldest aquaculture products in the world. 2,500 years ago the Romans had already developed a procedure to settle the coveted shellfish in a productive way. Christoffer Bohlig buys the one-year-old seedlings in Ireland. In March and April he puts them in the sea off List. For 24 months he nurtures them there – in so called poches – which are water, light and nutrient-permeable net bags lying on iron stands which are then flushed by the nutrient-rich water of the North Sea.This so called“table culture”is very care-intensive.Together with his staff, the manager of Dittmeyer’s Austern-Compagnie, has to free the poches of seaweed and algae on a regular basis. This is the only way for the shellfish to receive sufficient oxygen and nutrients. 15 kg of heavy bags have to be turned, shaken and moved as often as possible by hand for the clams not to grow together. This is truly hard graft during wind and weather! Oyster breeders spend up to four hours in the tideland during a favourable tide. Two to three million shell- fish certainly need to be taken care of.