Oysters belong to the order of mollusks and the class of bivalves. Along with mussels, oysters are one of the most famous shellfish used for food. The European flat oyster Ostrea edulis (Linnaeus, 1758) is cultivated in the Republic of Croatia. The Pacific oyster Magallana gigas (Thunberg, 1793), which is more resistant to diseases, but has meat of a lower quality than O. edulis, is leading in the world. The species O. edulis was decimated in the 1960s and 1970s due to infection with the protozoan pests Bonamia ostrea and Marteilia refringens, and in Croatia, the Maloston Bay in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County was spared. The aim of the paper is to present the technologies used in oyster farming, with special reference to the role of hatcheries, as artificial means of ensuring a sufficient quantity of oyster fry. Artificial spawning technologies refer to the oyster O. edulis, as the only species cultivated in Croatia. The plan of the Republic of Croatia is to increase the annual production of shellfish from 2,500 tons to 20,000 tons. New technologies used in artificial hatcheries play a role in this. There are no commercial hatcheries in Croatia, but the paper presents methods that can also be used in the natural breeding of this valuable species.