The crane on the Christchurch school oyster boat is used to lift the oyster cages out of the water. The cages are taken to the dock, where they are carried to land to be sorted.

As we examine the cages, we find many small organisms such as baby flounders, seahorses, sea squirts, skillet fish, oyster toads, and crabs. Saving aquatic life is an integral part of our program, so we take the time to pick them out and place them back in the water.  

The sorter, consists of a rotating metal cylinder with many small holes for undersized oysters to fall through. Once shoveled into the sorter, water is run through a pipe to clean the oysters.  The cleaned oysters are dispersed amongst several cages so they have room to grow.  

The undersized oysters fall into a separate container to be re-placed into the water to grow to their optimal size. Once the large oysters fall through the end of the tube into their growing cages, both cages are replaced into the water to grow more.