Book Description

Estuaroes are the 'door mat' of human activity on land. They are also highly valued by community. The New South Wales (NSW) oyster industry is Australia's oldest farming enterprise, dating back to the pre-European settlement era and as a consequence has social and cultural significance. Oyster farmers have developed generations of understanding and professional and intimate observation of the subtleties and frailties of NSW estuaries, cultivating their shells on a daily basis. The key motivation for this study is that the NSW oyster industry is a risk indicator of sustalnable coastal catchment policy and practice. The studies are based on the hypothesis that the economic, social, cultural, human health and environmental sustainability objectives of the NSW oyster industry require a historically- and scientifically-based risk analysis framework for selecting, managing and cultivating oyster farming areas. A review identified that it was vulnerable because of the lack of protection and planning for oyster growing areas. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that policies based on a risk analysis framework optimise outcomes for strategic management of the NSW oyster industry where risk is defined in terms of the effect of uncertainties on the industry's economic, social, cultural, human health and environmental sustainability objectives.