Greenshell mussel hatchery open

Until now NZ mussel farmers have been very much dependent on Mother Nature, says Gary Hooper, CEO of Aquaculture New Zealand, however, if farmers can get their spat from a hatchery, they will know what they are getting and when they will get it.

The hatchery’s breeding programme relies on conventional selective breeding – just like terrestrial farmers have used for generations. There is no genetic engineering involved but modern techniques like DNA fingerprinting are useful to make sure that the breeding population remains genetically diverse. The scientists say that it is not about breeding one line of ‘super mussel’ – it is about maintaining a wide range of high performing lines to choose from.

The mussels are fed all natural algae like they would eat in the sea and they are kept in clean seawater. As a result, the scientists say that they can naturally breed healthy baby mussels to underpin a sustainable and nutritious food.

Scientists at SPATnz use a wash of cold water to encourage their mussel parents to spawn. The scientists say that it is a deceptively simple process but getting things exactly right has taken a lot of time and some painstaking research.

The new hatchery is part of a seven year SPATnz (Shellfish Production and Technology New Zealand Limited) Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme, with equal funding of $13m each from the Ministry for Primary Industries and commercial partner Sanford.

According to Ben Dalton, Deputy Director General at the Ministry for Primary Industries, the initial financial benefits are expected to be around $80 million a year by 2026 or up to almost $200 million per year if the technology is adopted throughout the industry in New Zealand.