Farm fresh mussels and oysters from the rich seas of the West Coast

Dr Eltie Links (Chairman) and Schalk Visser (MD of Blue Bay AQF & La Vie Seafood) during a recent visit to the mussel farm in Saldanha.

TerraSan Limited expanded its investment in aquaculture with the acquisition of the black mussel farming business in Blue Bay Aquafarm (Pty) Ltd, Saldanha, from the Sea Harvest Corporation in July 2000. The farming method and production was consolidated under Blue Bay Aquafarm who also acquired 50% shareholding in La Vie Seafoods (Pty) Ltd - a dedicated mussel processing factory.

Today, about 1000 tons of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) is produced per year using raft culture on a 50 hectare lease in Saldanha Bay. The restaurant trade buys 250 tons of this live fresh on a daily basis. The rest is supplied to La Vie Seafoods for processing into cooked frozen ½ shell mussels.

This investment created a number of new jobs and provides the potential of producing frozen products for export, particularly to the European Union. Further expansion in mussel production is foreseen in the hands of the Masiza Mussel Farm (Pty) Ltd, an empowerment project that Blue Bay started in 2002. The first 9 independent black mussel farmers in South Africa have produced 160 tons of mussels in 2004 and, on estimate, will produce 300 tons in 2005.