Billions of Mussels Raised By This Modern Technique - Mussel Farming Process and Harvesting 2023

Hello friend, to continue our video series on aquaculture, we will visit New Zealand to see a

mussel

farm in a calm water region. Mussels are a popular choice for aquaculture because they are easy to grow and delicious to eat. Billions of

mussel

s are produced here every year. It is considered more productive than land farms for sheep or goats! In today's video I will show you all the details about the mussel

farming

process

. Now let's look! Let me tell you about the first step of mussel

farming

. To grow

mussels

, you start with the baby mussel, which is called a seed.

They are approximately the size of a grain of sand. They are caught in the wild or

raised

in a hatchery with warm water and proper lighting. Warm water helps stimulate their mating and reproduction

process

es, which can be more difficult for them in the wild. Check it! These are fights under the microscope. After that, the mussel seeds will be stored in these bubbling tanks. And do you want to know what they eat at

this

stage? It's

this

cold green liquid! Can you guess what that is? The answer is microalgae. This type of feed is perfect for mussels, both in farms and in the wild.

The seeds will stay here for a few weeks, before being sifted and moved to an outdoor farm. Here, they will grow to between 2.5 and 3 cm before being taken to the ocean. These little mussels have reached the perfect size and are now ready for the next step. The mussels are put into the net in this way, then it is called a "sock". They are hung from ropes and anchored with floating buoys on the ocean surface. This is called a longline system. On the sea surface, the spine usually extends for about 110 meters and carries the 'dropper cords'. Let's take a moment to observe this.

Depending on the depth of the water, each rope can be up to 20 meters long, and the spine can carry a total of 2.5 to 3.5 km of drippers. Mussels also help clean the water. They are filter feeders, meaning they feed by collecting small organisms from the water. This means they do not need any additional food or fertilizer to grow. After about 12 months, when they reach about 10 cm in size, we can harvest them. Let's follow this beautiful process! Once harvested, the mussels will be taken to the processing plant. Here they are processed in different ways depending on their characteristics and demand.

In New Zealand, in addition to exporting fresh and steamed mussels, they even make protein powder. This is the process of making protein powder from mussels. Mussels are not only delicious but are also full of nutrients such as protein and polyunsaturated fatty acids. They are low in cholesterol, saturated fat, and trans fat, making them a great addition to a healthy diet and good for heart health. Now, let's see how mussels are packaged for export. New Zealand is one of the largest exporters of mussels in the world. world. In 2022, they earned $52 million in green-shell mussel export revenue. Mussel production does not have a large impact on the environment, and the industry's carbon and freshwater footprint is small compared to other protein crops.

What's more, mussel farms even provide habitats for other species to thrive, making them a sustainable option for aquaculture. Now that we have reached the end of today's video, I hope you enjoyed and learned something new about the mussel farming

technique

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