The oyster has been called the canary in the estuary for the death of an oyster can reveal environmental changes that may have gone unnoticed.

While people's eyes may glaze over at talk of climate change, film-maker Kim Beamish is hoping a film about its effects on a Merimbula oyster-farming family might wake them up, writes GLEN HUMPHRIES

"The best way to eat an oyster is the way you like it at the moment you crave it"

A conversation with Phil O'Shea of Five Barrel Brewing as he brews a batch of Oyster Stout for the feature documentary 'Oyster'.

A recent report has found that the sounds used by aquatic animals to navigate are being affected by the increasing levels of pollution pouring into our estuaries from cities, towns and agricultural land. 

Comparing audio recordings of polluted waters with audio recordings from non-polluted waters researchers were able to show what water conditions could be at the end of the century under global ocean acidification.

Oysters are natural filters of the lakes, rivers and estuaries they are in and because of this provide the opportunity for aquatic species affected by pollution the opportunity to thrive. Oysters may also provide an answer when looking at how to maintain the navigational sounds of our inland waterways. 

Painter Nadine Robbins has generously donated several limited edition prints of her oyster paintings to support Australian filmmaker Kim Beamish’s new Kickstarter campaign. The campaign, which started on September 1, 2016 and runs through September 30, 2016, is intended to generate the $25,000AUD necessary for Beamish to produce Oyster, a film that will document the effects of climate change by following a family of oyster farmers.

Sarah Blasko - An oyster, a pearl

Sounds like this is about the noises oysters make; not quite.

But there is a story about a pub in London (long since disappeared) called the Whistling Oyster and how it got its name.

Brett Weingarth aka. Capt. Sponge takes on a magical oyster tour of Pambula Lake and lets in on what these estauries mean to him and the oyster farmers who use them.