Tuesday Treasures

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Our World Tuesday

Mazatlan Mexico

I'm not a huge fan of oysters, but am always willing to try. And that I did in 2014.

Oyster Divers in Mazatlán/Los Ostioneros

But since then I've been curious how they are fished. I've culled the following information from various online sources.

There are at least ten locations or oyster reefs around town that are good for diving. They start work about 8 or 8:30 each day, diving till 10:30 or 11.

The divers, some of whom wear wet suits, take floating inner tubes fitted with nets out into the sea and armed with sharp tools, dive down to the oyster reefs to harvest the shellfish, while holding their breath.

If the water is about three meters deep, they stay down about 40 seconds, hammering on the rock to get the oysters loose. If it’s deeper water, they may stay down as few as 20 seconds at a time. 

Each diver makes what he makes; they are not a cooperative. A normal haul — one fill of the net in one of their inner tubes — is about 50 kg of scratchy shells on their backs and pack the oysters into green mesh bags that weigh about 23 kg each that will be sold wholesale to restaurants. 

They throw the shucked oyster shells back into the ocean in order to increase the harvest as the shells have larvae on them, and they will replant and grow. 

They have a forced holiday every summer, when the veda is in place — when it’s illegal to dive for oysters. That’s why September is so often called “Septi-hambre,” the hungry month, because it comes after they’ve had three months of no oyster income.

Most are sold to local restaurants but there are also informal spots along the Malecon where they are sold as fresh as they can be!