Farms combating decline of wild mussels
If it seems like it’s harder in recent years to find mussels at low tide attached to rocks ripe for the picking, you wouldn’t be wrong and Maine’s mussel farmers are hard at work making sure that mussel larvae still have a place to grow into the most popular marine foods.
Marine biologist Jon Lewis told the Boothbay Register that the settlement of mussels on mudflats and rocks is proving to be a problem as the number of threats to the population continues to grow.
“The decline in wild mussels may be related to warming waters, predators such as green crabs, ice scouring or ocean acidification,” Lewis told the Register.
Maine’s five mussel farms are trying to combat that problem by placing 45-foot ropes that are attached to rafts floating in locations with a large number of wild mussel spawn. After mussels float around for upwards of six months, they then attach themselves to the ropes, where they can safely mature and be ready for harvest in two years, according to the Register.
Carter Newell, the owner of Pemaquid Mussel Farm, added that because roped-farmed mussels don’t have to protect themselves from many predators, they have thinner shells and fuller meat, a welcome change for both farmers and mollusk lovers.
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