Production of farmed blue mussels on self-operating collectors in the Carleton region

Description

In Eastern Canada, mussels are reared in socks suspended from fixed lines. The lines are maintained at a constant depth and require regular maintenance inspections. Spat collection and socking also require significant efforts. In addition, suspension culture involves periods of intense activity that leave very little time for other activities. The purpose of this project is to complete the development of a mussel culture strategy that would allow fishers to engage in suspension culture while avoiding conflicts with the fishing season. One possible way to achieve this objective is to culture mussels on self-operating collectors, which would require very little line maintenance and would make it possible to avoid socking. One possible drawback is that because the seed would not be graded to size, product quality would be more variable. The purpose of this project is to evaluate whether this culture strategy offers a possibility for diversifying the fishers' traditional activities. The project includes comparing the commercial production of self-operating collectors and traditional socks, monitoring the depth of the self-operating collectors, conducting a bioeconomic analysis of the two methods and establishing the biomass-density relationship for each of the two methods (traditional socks versus self-operating collector consisting of used polypropylene cable) in Cascapédia Bay.

Program Name

Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program (ACRDP)

Year(s)

2003 - 2007

Ecoregion(s)

Central Canada: Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Freshwater Drainage Basin

Principal Investigator(s)

Marcel Fréchette
Email: Marcel.Frechette@dfo-mpo.gc.ca