It all starts in Winter. When our fishing crew take to the water in search of baby mussels – known as wild spat. We capture the wild spat using a thin stocking and re-seed them onto longline ropes – this gives the mussels plenty of room to grow into their shells.
We use a biodegradable cotton sock to keep the wild spat together as they transfer onto the rope via the byssus thread (also known as the beard). We keep the ropes between 2 -20 metres under the water surface. This means they don’t touch the bottom of the ocean floor – keeping them clean from any sand or grit.
As the mussels mature, they feed off the nutrient-rich waters growing in size and flavour until they are ready for harvest. And whilst this process can take up to 6-12 months depending on the season…it’s well worth the wait as they develop into mouth-watering mussels.