Both the Blue Mussel (M. edulis) and the Gallo Mussel (M. Galloprovincialis) are farmed in British Columbia. The Blue Mussel is renowned for its rich, sweet taste and its dark blue shell.
Mussels have traditionally been more of a problem to shellfish growers than a potential farmed animal. In North America, we began farming mussels in the 1970s and it is now a substantial industry in the northeast United States and Atlantic Canada where M. edulis is the main species grown.
Efforts to farm British Columbia’s native Mytilus trosullus have been thwarted by duck predation and natural summer mortality.
