Jacob Campbell on Unsplash
Mussels to be poured on mussel shell reef to revive 'devastated' population
Chloe Ranford Fisheries & Aquaculture
A boatload of mussel shells have been sunk off Marlborough’s shores to create a reef that will help revive marine life and a multimillion-dollar industry.
The Marine Farming Association will place 20 tonnes of live green-lipped mussels atop 12 tonnes of shells dropped at two spots in the Pelorus Sound/Te Hoiere to see if it can restore mussel beds wiped out by overfishing in the past 50 years.
Over time, the project could also rekindle mussel spat, or juvenile mussel, farming – an industry that once generated between $10 million to $30m a year in the Pelorus Sound/Te Hoiere, but had since become uneconomical to maintain.
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