STEWART ISLAND

                   GREEN SHELL MUSSELS

The greenlipped mussels start their lives as mussel spat washed upon the beach of Kaitaia, North Island. This is a natural occurrence and usually happens anytime between May and October each year.

From here their seaweed host is collected and brought to Stewart Island, where the waters are in pristine condition.  Once here, the seaweed and mussel spat' which is often microscopically small, is fed onto growing rope with the help of a cotton stocking around the rope to help keep the seaweed in place. Over a period of 2 - 3 months the spat 'walks' off the seaweed onto the rope, while the holding stocking will dissolve.

The growing rope with its spat is hanging in the water at about 10m length and is attached to a so-called backbone at the water surface. Mussels  are filterfeeders; it is not necessary to add any food to their diet. They 'filter' all available goodness in the water and spit out what is not needed.

After about a year the growing rope is stripped of all mussels, which then will be reseeded onto more rope at a thinner density. This will give the mussels more room to feed, develop and grow. Due to the cooler temperatures of Stewart Island waters the mussels will take another 2 - 3 years to grow to harvest size, approx. 9 - 10cm. Then they will be harvested and you can eat them at the Kai Kart!!