Menai Strait mussel farming could be lost, producers fear

The Eastern Menai Strait is the largest mussel-farming site in Britain

Mussel farming on the Menai Strait could be in jeopardy unless new management measures are approved soon, according to local producers.

There are concerns the industry could disappear completely unless a new Fishery Order is introduced to safeguard it.

The current order expires on 31 March, 2022.

The Welsh Government said it was still working on renewing the Fishery Order for the area.

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Due to the natural environment, the Eastern Menai Strait is the largest mussel farming site in Britain, with between seven and 10,000 tonnes produced annually.

The mussels have always had a prominent place on the menu of many local restaurants and are very popular with customers, said David Retallick from Dylan's restaurant in Menai Bridge.

"Everyone likes coming to the restaurant to eat mussels from the Menai Straits, locals and visitors alike," he said.

"They enjoy having the chance to sit and look out over the water where they were caught."

Mussels are popular with customers at Dylan's restaurant in Menai Bridge

The current Fishery Order has been in place since 1962 and there have been efforts locally, for a number of years, to renew it.

But the Welsh Government has not finished processing the application.

James Wilson, from Deep Dock - one of the mussel-farming companies based at Porth Penrhyn in Bangor, said the order was vital to secure their future.

"The order provides us with a kind of property right on the sea bed," he said.

"It allows us to put juvenile mussels down on the sea bed, look after them for two or three years until they've grown to market size, and then realise the benefit of our investments.

"Without that Fishery Order, other people could come in and take our mussels and reap the rewards.

"We've got great protection here on the Straits from the island and the mainland, which prevents the weather having a detrimental effect. The sea bed here is of a particular type that the mussels can easily attach to it.

"So between that and having a well-located port, all that allows for a great place for cultivation of mussels."

Time is running out, says James Wilson

Mr Wilson, who said Europe was currently the largest market for Menai mussels, added: "Everyone's facing challenges at the moment. Covid, we'll find a way through it. Brexit, we'll find a way to adapt to it. Without the order, this is the foundation stone of the sector.

"If the Welsh Government don't provide us with the order, there will be no cultivation sector here.

"The businesses we have here, the people that are employed in this, the history, the future potential, all of that could be lost."

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "We recognise the history and success of the current Fishery Order in the Menai Strait for aquaculture in Wales.

"Despite the current challenges presented by Brexit and Covid-19, we are still progressing MSFOMA's [Menai Strait Fishery Order Management Association] application, and are working closely with them on several points of detail."