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Fishing
and mussel-harvesting are among the oldest human activities.
As
a matter of fact mussel shells are often found as part of
scrapers and projectile points in paleontologic finds.
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The
first experience of mussel-farming is dated 1236 when an
Irishmen named Patrick Walton found himself ship wrecked on
a desolate stretch of French coastline. Hoping to snag a few
sea birds he rigged a net between several stakes driven into
the sand just off shore. He didn't catch many birds but a
few days later he pulled up the stakes and found lots of
mussels.
He
soon realised that the molluscs would gain a better taste
and reach a bigger size if they where grown suspended into
the water. The Irishmen started to cultivate mussels using
upright wooden poles (“bouchots”) on lower shore, a
method practised to this day.
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In
Italy, mussel-farming has been practised in lagoons and in
delta areas cultivating bivalves on ropes suspended into the
water.
Young
growing mussels, were collected and seeded on natural fibre
ropes made of Lygeum
spartum leafs.
The
limited rope’s resistance to cutting, which could turn
into loss of products, required a constant maintenance and
cleaning of the structures in order to avoid their burdening.
With
the introduction of synthetic material, more resistance
ropes started to be used.
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Since 1986
mussel farms have been also established in open sea along the
Adriatic coastline, where mussels are grown on ropes suspended
either from rafts or longlines. |
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In
Italy, the mussel cultivation is the more common sea-farming
activity due to its good economical return considering the
low set up and production
costs.
Mussels
do not need extra-feeding; in fact they are filter feeders
and they remove plankton and other nutrients directly from
the water and convert them into their flesh.
The
human effort consists, through seed mussels, of
maximising and stabilising the production.
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In
the Venetian lagoon,
mussels are farmed on ropes suspended from poles set into
the lagoon bottom. The farms are scattered mainly near
Malamocco and Chioggia and on the edge of channels where the
lagoon depth is around 5 meter. |
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