Our story

About Fishers Oysters

How It Started

Shaun Fisher is a Mununjali, Gorenpul Man who started an oyster enterprise with $500 and four leases in Moreton Bay, off Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). No investors, no business plan. Just sea country knowledge, hard work, and a belief that Indigenous people should be leading aquaculture on their own waters.

Fishers Oysters grows premium oysters while restoring the reef ecosystems that have sustained Quandamooka people for tens of thousands of years. The long-term vision is to build a cooperative, bringing in more families, creating jobs for marginalised young people and community members who need a pathway into work.

It's early days. Right now it's Shaun and a growing operation. But the model is designed to scale through community, not through corporate investment.

“Don't start with a business plan. Start with your Elders.”

— Shaun Fisher

Five Principles for Indigenous Aquaculture

Start with Traditional Knowledge

The land and sea have been managed by Indigenous peoples for millennia. Any enterprise has to begin with the knowledge systems that already exist, not imported frameworks.

Build Collectively

The goal is a cooperative: shared ownership, shared risk, shared benefit. Not one person carrying everything, but families and community working together over time.

Integrate Knowledge Systems

Traditional ecological knowledge and modern marine science aren't opposed. They're complementary. The best outcomes come from weaving them together.

Lead on Environment

Voluntary seasonal closures, habitat restoration, monitoring species return. Environmental leadership isn't a cost. It's the foundation of everything.

Tell Your Story, Control Your Narrative

Indigenous enterprises deserve to tell their own stories in their own way. Share the journey openly, on your own terms.

Where This Is Heading

Right now Fishers Oysters is Shaun and the leases. But the enterprise is built to grow into something bigger: a cooperative model where multiple families share in the ownership and the work.

Shaun is particularly focused on creating pathways for marginalised young people and community members who need work. Aquaculture is physical, outdoor, skilled work on country. It's the kind of employment that can change someone's trajectory.

The vision is also about replication. If this model works on Quandamooka country, it can work on other coastal Indigenous country too. The cooperative structure, the integration of traditional knowledge, the environmental approach: it's all designed to be shared.

Shaun Fisher

Mununjali, Gorenpul Man · Owner Operator

Aquaculturist and social enterprise builder. Shaun started Fisher’s Oysters to prove that Indigenous communities can lead sustainable marine industries on their own country and create real economic pathways for people who need them most.

Want to Be Part of It?

Whether you want to buy oysters, partner with us, or just learn more about what we're building, reach out.