Published: 13 September, 2007, 08:00
Edited: 13 September, 2007, 08:00
Fishermen in Georgia are gathering their first-ever harvest of specially farmed mussels and one local farm-owner is hoping to make them a major export.
The Black Sea is a good environment to farm shellfish and just a few kilometres off the lush subtropical coast of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Georgia's first-ever crop of farmed mussels is being harvested.
“Our farm occupies a half hectare of the open sea and consists of six long lines floating on the water. Each line is over 100 metres long, and the droppers, which the mussels grow on, hang down every metre and a half,” says mussel farm consultant, Revaz Diasamidze.
Farming in the open sea, where food for the mussels is plentiful and the water highly oxygenated, means the mussels grow faster. But the long lines are exposed to the strong currents and storms of the Black Sea, so the farmers are also experimenting with Spanish techniques, which hang the droppers from a single platform.
In their first year alone the farm managed to haul ten tons of marketable mussels from the long lines, and they have big plans for the future.
It takes a year for these mussels to grow large enough to be harvested, but even then the most important aspect of mussel production happens on dry land.
Enrico Benidze is the man behind mussel farming in Georgia, and whether he's cultivating them or cooking them, he knows his shellfish.
“The dish that we'll be cooking tonight is called mussels in cream sauce. The ingredients are garlic and onions and we'll be basically steaming them in olive oil. And, of course, we'll be using Georgian wine,” said Enrico Benidze.
Enrico and a relative hatched the idea to cultivate seafood in the Black Sea two years ago. He plans to expand into oysters and fish once the Georgian consumer has developed a taste for his mussels.
“The Black Sea is perfect for shellfish and especially mussels because it has a very specific taste. Many people, who are lovers of mussels, say it is a taste they never tried anywhere else. I think they're going to be very popular in the future and become the ultimate dish in the Georgian restaurants,” the muscle farm owner added.