Mark Andrews, owner of South Australian Seafoods, searched the whole world for a better place to begin a mussel farm and he found Port Lincoln in New Zealand as the most sought after destination for mussel farming. His company produces 700 tonnes of mussels annually and become the largest mussel grower in South Australia.
Andrews said that the suitable conditions at Port Lincoln would help to expand the production up to 1000 tonnes worth about $2 million this year. He added that the industry is only scratching the surface as Australia’s annual production of 5000 tonnes is well below the potential demand of about 60,000 tonnes.
The available data revealed that the New Zealand population of about three million people consumes 12,000 tonnes by comparison. According to Andrews mussels grow very quickly in Port Lincoln’s water and it has very good natural spat. He opined that the main reason to choose Port Lincoln as an ideal place for mussel farming is its production cost, which is much better than anywhere in the world.
Andrews’ mussel farm in Port Lincoln has continuous supply of water from Boston Bay, Proper Bay and Louth Bay. The mussels are grown on continuous rope in water from 8m to 20m deep with year-round harvesting.
