Thieves stole 400,000 juvenile oysters worth about $350,000 from an Australian farm; the grower says a third of his stock is gone and the theft has set him back two to three years

Thieves stole 400,000 juvenile oysters worth about $350,000

Waterborne thieves have raided an oyster farm on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, stealing 400,000 young oysters worth about $350,000 AUD (£177,000). The theft has wiped out around a third of the grower’s total stock. The large-scale theft is being investigated by the New South Wales Police Force. It happened at a remote water lease operated by Latitude 31 Oysters at Scotts Creek on Oxley Island, along the Manning River near Old Bar. According to ABC News Australia, farm owner Ryan Freeman discovered the theft on Tuesday morning, 25 August 2026, when he arrived to prepare his stock for the upcoming Christmas sales season. The thieves removed about 320 mesh bags containing young Sydney rock oysters, as well as floating equipment and sorting gear. Freeman said the total loss, including damaged equipment and stolen hardware, could be as high as $400,000 AUD. “We noticed our floating gear and tumblers were missing,” Freeman said while inspecting the oyster leases. The theft comes at a critical time for the business. About 80 per cent of the stolen oysters were due to be harvested and sold before Christmas. The farm usually supplies between 35,000 and 40,000 dozen oysters to Australian markets during the festive season.

Major financial loss and delays

Sydney rock oysters take about three years to reach market size. Freeman said the theft could therefore set his business back by two to three years. Losing a third of his total stock also means there is little time to replace the young oysters before the immediate production cycle. Rebuilding the lost stock will take years. Detectives from the New South Wales Police Force and local rural crime investigators believe the theft would have required good knowledge of the river, a suitable boat and several people working together to remove hundreds of heavy bags without being noticed. Police have appealed to local residents, boat owners and other river users for information. They are asking anyone who saw suspicious boats or activity around Scotts Creek to contact authorities. The incident has also raised concerns about agricultural crime in Australia’s aquaculture industry, where valuable seafood can be an attractive target for thieves.

Possible industry knowledge

Industry figures believe the timing and scale of the theft could indicate that the criminals knew how the oyster farm operated and understood the layout of the river. Gary Rodley, owner of Tathra Oysters on the NSW South Coast, told ABC News Australia that mature Sydney rock oysters can sell for between $1.50 and $2.00 AUD each at wholesale prices. He said the targeted nature of the theft suggested that someone familiar with commercial oyster farming could have been involved. “They’re a rare oyster that only grow up and down the New South Wales coastline, so they’re a very, very small percentage of the world’s oyster crop,” Rodley said. “It’s regarded as probably the best flavoured oyster in the world by a lot of people – they’re a very flavoursome oyster and highly regarded as a table oyster that’s eaten natural. That’s a particular set of circumstances that a lot of people value highly.” A Manning River oyster farmer, who spoke anonymously, said local growers were already facing serious problems after major floods in 2021 and 2025. Those floods destroyed large amounts of oyster stock across several regional river systems and contributed to a shortage of market-ready Sydney rock oysters across eastern Australia. “The worst case scenario is it could be someone within the industry that has had a shortfall, who has gone past that area of the river and knows it only gets used certain times of year, and they’ve gone ‘they’ll never know until they get back’,” the grower said.

More pressure on oyster farmers

The loss of 400,000 young oysters from the Manning River comes as Australian shellfish farmers face higher fuel costs, biosecurity concerns and increasingly unpredictable weather. The shortage of Sydney rock oysters has pushed up farm-gate prices, making floating oyster leases more attractive to criminals. Unlike land farms, which can be protected by fences and gates, oyster farms are spread across public rivers and estuaries. The leases are usually marked with floating signs and equipment. Some larger farms have installed solar-powered security cameras and GPS trackers on their equipment. However, keeping watch over large and isolated waterways, especially at night, remains difficult for smaller family businesses. New South Wales Police said the investigation is continuing through specialised rural crime teams. Officers are reviewing marine transport records and checking regional seafood supply chains. Police have also urged anyone offered large or suspicious quantities of Sydney rock oysters without proper paperwork showing their legal source to report it immediately.