Mussel Aquaculture in the Northeast

) and use as fishing bait have long been sup-ported in the northeastern United States by a small-scalefishery supplying largely niche markets. Mussels havebeen consumed since pre-colonial times and served as aready supply of inexpensive seafood protein duringwartime periods (1917 and 1942) in America (Miller,1980). Markets for mussels expanded in the 1970s and1980s leading to the introduction of mussel farming inthe Northeast. The first U.S. mussel farm was estab-lished by Mr. Edward Meyers of Walpole, Maine, who in1973 founded Abandoned Farm on a 5-acre (2-hectare)site in the nearby Damariscotta River. Other early mus-sel farms established in the 1970s included the 60-acreBlue Gold Mussel Farm on the East Passage of Narra-gansett Bay in the town of Middletown, Rhode Islandand The Great Eastern Mussel Farm in Tenants Harbor,Maine (Hurburt and Hurlburt, 1980). Since these pio-neering farms, others have become established in Maine,New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.The process of mussel farming involves the collec-tion of juvenile mussels (“mussel spat”), harvesting thespat and placing it into culture equipment and growingthe mussels to market size for harvest and sale. In gen-eral, most of the mussel farms in the Northeast Regionare of the off-bottom type in which mussels are grownon ropes either suspended from rafts, or strung on sock-ing materials that are suspended from rafts or in eitherfloating or submerged longline systems. Bottom cultureof mussels occurs in Maine, using methods similar tothose developed in the Netherlands and Germany,though most new efforts employ off-bottom musselfarming methods that produce a cleaner more uniformlysized product (Hurlburt and Hurlburt, 1980).The aim of this NRAC fact sheet is to provide a gen-eral overview of the various mussel farming techniquesas they are currently practiced in the Northeastern Unit-ed States. References are cited that provide more in-depth information on particular production systems, andprospective growers are also encouraged to contact theirlocal marine extension agent, aquaculture association,state marine fisheries agency, or the Northeast RegionalAquaculture Center.