Brett Weingarth, ''Sponge'', the owner/captain, has a lifetime of farming experience both aquatic and dryland having been raised on a farm and running cattle, sheep, wheat & canola in Cowra in central west NSW.

 

He, his wife Jodie and three boys moved off the farm and onto the lake (as it were) in the thick of the worst drought in a hundred years.

 

Sponge farms a four acre oyster lease in Merimbula Lake and a number of oyster leases in Pambula Lake and down the Pambula river, run from a rustic oyster hut on the foreshore.

 

Brett has been involved with many community based events, such as Eat Merimbula, Eden Whale Festival and Narooma Oyster Festival and has organised ''shucking'' competitions and various other oyster experiences in this capacity, he is media officer for Sapphire Coast Wilderness Oysters and on the management committee for Australia's Oyster Coast.

 

Along the way Brett has formed many partnerships and friendships with media companies, newspaper reporters, Bega Valley Shire councillors, Sapphire Coast Tourism, Chambers of Commerce, other businesses and of course oyster farmers of the Sapphire Coast.

 

Brett also runs an environmental protection project in the shire by the name of Love Our Lakes.

Brett has a Coxswain accreditation for the skippering of the vessel and all other insurances required are in place as are the various safety procedures and protocols as are required when operating this type of venture.