
22/09/2025
American River on Kangaroo Island (KI) was named by American sealers in the early 1800s, mistaking the long inland channel for a river. It’s here you’ll find Kangaroo Island Oysters – a family-run business owned by Todd and Marisa Packer and managed by their son, Jack. The quiet, sheltered waters of Eastern Cove make it the ideal spot for an oyster farm.
Shellfish farming must be in the Packer family blood. Todd is no stranger to these shores – more than thirty years ago, he worked for seafood company A Raptis & Sons when they were setting up to farm mussels. ‘I helped set up the very first lines here,’ he recalls. ‘There were no sheds – this was all just a big carpark.’ Todd went on to complete an Advanced Diploma in Aquaculture at the Lincoln Marine Science Centre.
Marisa, meanwhile, came from a background in the medical and tourism industries. Though not directly involved in aquaculture early on, she helped manage the books when they were starting out in Port Lincoln. Read the full story in our spring issue!