Australian Community Media touched base with South Coast growers - each with different insights into the industry and what's ahead after bushfires, floods and a pandemic.

Recent rain closed estuaries, but farmers said it brought a much-needed flush out. For quality assurance, they stuck to their estuary management plans and waited for salinity to rise before harvesting.

Sally McLean, of family-run business Jim Wild's Oysters said, after almost six weeks, Shoalhaven farmers were excited to reopen.

"We suffered the worst in February where everything that was burned came down the river - it was like a disaster zone down here after the flood," she said. The business kept ticking over from farm gate sales.

"We had to buy oysters from other estuaries to stay open," Ms McLean said.

"It's great when we have our own, but people understand and don't mind tasting oysters from another estuary. It has been a tricky season."

Ms McLean was expecting plenty of tourists to Greenwell Point in summer.

"I think it will be one of our biggest seasons, everyone will be out in force supporting local businesses that are suffering - we are all looking forward to it," she said. "Everyone in the Shoalhaven has a bumper crop to sell."

The Clyde River catchment has been closed since early August and reopened for last week.

The catchment was closed for a longer period because fires destroyed buffering vegetation.

Ewen McAsh of Signature Oysters said it was a disrupted year.

"The catchment burned so extensively, when we get rain, instead of being shut for two weeks and the water clears, it has been shutting us for up to five weeks," he said.

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Signature Oysters closed for five weeks during the bushfires.

"There was so much disruption to sales with transport and power outages," Mr McAsh said.

"With two months of bushfires, you couldn't farm properly."

The farm opened back up a week before the COVID-19 lockdown.

"It was a triple whammy," Mr McAsh said. "COVID then shut all the restaurants down."

Signature Oysters turned to a new market to survive.

Mr McAsh said business boomed after going online.

"We successfully pivoted to online sales with the support of locals and a Facebook campaign; now we're shipping oysters direct to homes all over Australia - more than what we would to restaurants," he said.

Mr McAsh said sales records were broken, and last week was extra busy with Fathers Day orders.

"Our wholesale is down, but this ability to sell online has been amazing, it is going to a new market for us selling directly to homes," he said.

"Things are looking really good. We are focussing on selling great quality oysters locally; we appreciate locals' support.

A crisis makes you realise the value of buying and selling locally."

Mr McAsh is adapting new cultivation methods and oyster management technology.

"To adjust to the new normal with weather and climate change, we are doubling down investments in new cultivation methods and committing to new markets - local and online," he said.

In the Wagonga Inlet of Narooma, Brian Coxon felt the online market would soon be crowded. His business was also hit hard and he went online to keep afloat.

"Any business that sells or relies on hospitality has been devastated," he said.

He said it was a niche market and "you either eat oysters, or you don't".

"Everyone is doing the online thing to generate sales," he said.

With Tasmania and South Australia's pacific oysters coming back from a six-month off season, Mr Coxon said competition would be tough. "It's going to be a pretty crowded marketplace," he said. Mr Coxon believed there would be enough Christmas trade to "scratch by", depending on COVID-19.

"What will happen in school holidays when the Coast is full of tourists?" Another lockdown could extend what has already been a horrible year.

"This industry has been in a lot of recessions and has never missed a beat, but combine bushfires and COVID and the loss of business over the Christmas period ... it's a really tough time for everybody.

"I wouldn't stay here if I didn't believe I had a future."

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Wagonga was fully reopened last Wednesday, after a 21-day closure due to sewage spills.

It opened in stages as salinity levels improved.

In Nelson Lagoon, Tathra Oysters chose not to harvest in winter. Owners Gary and Jo Rodely said they would harvest in November. Despite closures during fires and rain, Mr Rodley said "that's just farming" and kept a positive outlook. In 32 years, he has known many ups and downs.

"Things are going to go wrong - the philosophy is to grow enough oysters that if things do go wrong you can still have a good year," he said.

He hoped more people discovered oysters' nutritional benefits: "They're the highest natural food source of zinc and a great immunity booster."

Tathra Oysters won gold in the Delicious Produce Awards with three other Far South Coast producers, Appellation Oysters Wagonga, Wapengo Rocks Wild Organic Oysters and Mimosa Rock Oysters.

Mr Rodely said the industry was thriving due to technology.

"You would struggle to find a parallel industry in Australia that has had such a big turnaround in potential productivity as a result of innovation," he said.

Last year, Tathra Oysters sold 2.5 million spat (baby oysters) to Queensland.

"Those farmers get our Far South Coast babies and take them to northern extremity waters where the little oysters think it's summer all-year round, and they're thriving," Mr Rodely said.

The Pambula Lake reopened recently after a month-long closure.

Greg Carton of Broadwater Oysters said conditions were "awesome".

"The fresh flush was exactly what the lake needed," he said.

Mr Carton was busy pumping out stock in the lead up to Fathers Day: "Usually this time of year our oysters are poor, but they have held their condition. We have unloaded it all."

We are selling a lot of stuff we planned to hold over Christmas.

Mr Carton said plenty of oysters were hitting the market after disruptions.

"There's a lot of stock that didn't get moved on the north coast," he said.

"From October, the market could potentially get saturated - but that won't affect us.

"People will flood the market; there's no point fighting it if there's a tonne of pressure pushing prices down."

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Broadwater Oysters will continue supplying Sydney, but would rather not compete in a crowded market. It will be retail and mail orders as usual over summer, before the business would make a comeback for the big Easter trade.

Further south, Wonboyn Rock Oysters owner Caroline Henry said the business lost all passing trade when the border closed. Then rain stopped harvest.

"We haven't sold oysters since the beginning of July," she said.

"We're getting a lot of phone calls."