Mussel aquaculture in New England expanding with opening of federal waters
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Boston Globe] By Lonnie Shekhtman - November 24, 2014 -
Portland, Maine, By the time the sun rose on a chilly November morning, Matthew Moretti and his two-man crew had steamed into Casco Bay, tying up alongside three square rafts bobbing in calm waters. Clambering onto the planks, they began hauling 35-foot ropes from the deep, each laden with hundreds of pounds of slate-gray mussels.
"Demand is huge for rope-grown mussel," said Moretti, co-owner of Wild Ocean Aquaculture, which grows and sells the branded Bangs Island Mussels. "It's way bigger than we have been able to fill."
"Being able to grow mussels in offshore waters is possible," said Salem State University biology professor Mark Fregeau, who helped design the permitting process for shellfish farming in federal waters. "Whether that's going to work in Massachusetts, I think that's the big question."
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