Selective breeding for greenshell mussels unveiled

See this supplied video showing how NZ's greenshell mussel industry is moving towards selective breeding:

Greenshell mussels will soon be selectively bred like sheep in a partnership between the mussel industry and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

A new mussel hatchery and lab facility is due to open today near Nelson at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park. Industry leaders say "the element of chance" has now been taken out of mussel farming.

Greenshell mussels is the trademarked trading name for New Zealand green lipped mussels which are currently worth around $300 million annually to the country's economy.

The hatchery comes two years into a seven-year Primary Growth Partnership programme called Shellfish Production and Technology New Zealand (SpatNZ) between industry and the MPI.

Both the ministry and commercial partner Sanford have committed $13 million to the programme.

Aquaculture New Zealand chief executive Gary Hooper said that until now, mussel farmers had been dependent on mother nature.

"All of our mussel spat is caught wild. For example, we have to wait for it to wash up onto 90 Mile Beach attached to seaweed. We just have no control over it.

"If farmers can get their spat from a hatchery, that changes a lot.

"They will know what they're getting and when they'll get it, and it will produce high performing mussels."

SpatNZ programme manager Rodney Roberts said female mussels spawned 30 to 40 million eggs in the wild and the majority did not survive.

"Survival rates like that would make our hatchery completely uneconomic, so we've had to develop methods that let us do much better."

MPI deputy director-general Ben Dalton said the hatchery had substantial benefits for the wider economy.

"This is a great investment. 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."

Aquaculture is worth around $470 million to the country's economy and the industry wants to grow to be a billion dollar sector

It currently takes around 36 months to grow Greenshell mussels from spawning to harvest size which the programme is aiming to shorten to 27 months through its selective breeding programme.

It currently takes around 36 months to grow Greenshell mussels from spawning to harvest size which industry leaders are hoping to shorten to 27 months through a selective breeding programme.