United oyster farmers from the Mali Ston Bay are striving to overcome a two-year pandemic crisis with the help of European funds, further branding and promoting this queen among shellfish beyond their homeland borders, which received the European protected designation of origin a few years ago. A popular-scientific bilingual monograph on the peculiarities of shellfish farming in Mali Ston Bay and the natural features of this marine strait between the mainland and the Pelješac Peninsula is expected to be completed soon. As part of the project The Queen of Oysters, restaurants in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County that offer oysters on their menus add a label that informs guests that the Mali Ston oyster is an indigenous local product worth trying.
Marija Radić, the president of the Ston Shellfish Farmers Association, which gathers forty of about seventy farmers, at her family’s cultivation field at her doorstep. The association of shellfish farmers she leads is responsible for the registration of the Mali Ston oyster in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications, as well as for the protection of this valued shellfish in the European Union. Protection at the European level is welcome for the recognition of the oyster beyond the borders of Croatia, and the branding process has continued through a European project under which a monograph on shellfish farming in Mali Ston Bay is expected to be completed soon in Croatian and English.
– We have a centuries-old tradition of shellfish farming here. Today’s farmers are mostly traditional crafts, we all have some story passed down from generation to generation. My grandfather started shellfish farming in 1927, my father inherited it, and now I do. We wanted the elders to tell their stories, to record them, to unify everything in a monograph so that locals and our visitors can gain insight into the tradition of Mali Ston Bay. The monograph should be completed by March 19, when the Day of the Mali Ston Oyster is traditionally celebrated, an event that has been absent for two years due to the pandemic. We also promote the oyster through restaurant menus. We would like to bring it closer to guests, emphasizing that it is an indigenous product of this area. Our goal is to increase consumption, so that every guest who comes to Dubrovnik-Neretva County tries the oyster – Marija Radić tells us on behalf of the united shellfish farmers who form the backbone of the economy in Mali Ston Bay.
