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| Updated May 2012
Welcome to Menai Oysters
We have a new section called Barrows please take a look
**Ade in Britain is currently airing. Catch it on the itv player episode 1 to see how he got on down on the farm....its funny.**
And just to show how good oysters and mussels are in environmental terms (We don't even put the ropes in)www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/15/mussels-oysters-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall
Enjoy.....
Oysters are in and out of stock very quickly at the moment. Please telephone to check availability.
A view overlooking the mussel beds.
Menai Oysters is situated on the Angleseyside
of the Menai Strait in North Wales. The Menai Strait is currently
designated a Special Area of Conservation. Strong tidal currents ebb and
flow around sandbanks and bring in a steady supply of food to give the
shellfish grown here their unique taste. The farm is overlooked by Y
Felinhelli to the left, historic Caernarfon castle castle to the right
and the majestic Snowdownia National Park for the background. Few places
offer such a work environment.
Mussel Cultivation.
Mussels
are cultivated on the intertidal seabed. This method of cultivation
offers different benefits to the mussels over other culture methods.
Firstly,
the exposure to air at low water allows the mussels to build a strong
shell and aductor muscle. This effectively gives a robust mussel that is
able to tolerate longer periods out of water, which means a longer
shelf life and low shell breakage.
Secondly, mussels grown on the seabed tend to have more flavour than mussels grown in other ways.
Finally
intertidal mussel beds are noted as a very important habitat on the sea
shore. These beds not only support marine communities but also
terrestrial ones to. Birds are prevalent on mussel beds and there are
various species making their home at the farm. Birds such as
oystercatchers, heron, egret, plovver,curlew, seagull, cormorant and
crow to name a few. The crows have become particulary adept at obtaining
food from mussels, by carrying them to the road to drop them and break
the shell. Seagulls have tried to copy this but fail to carry them
beyond the soft mud before dropping them leaving the mussel intact.
 
Small
mussels (seed) are collected from the wild using a boat. Wild seed beds
tend to be ephemeral and are lost to storms or are predated heavily by
starfish ( which can number millions see Environment
). By relaying this wild seed into more sheltered growing areas not
only does the farmer benefit, but also some of the other animals
previously mentioned by allowing them access to a resource that was
previously unavailable to them. The typical loss of mussels to these
predators is in excess of 90% but a farmer can get a return of between
1-7 times the original seed harvest.
Oyster Cultivation.
Oysters
are cultivated using the bag and trestle system. This system involves
the rearing of oysters in polypropelene bags secured to metal racks.
Again grown intertidally. Oysters are purchased as juveniles (seed) from
hatcheries. Various sizes of seed oyster can be purchased. Once
purchased the seed is placed into the bags and the oysters are left to
grow for a period of time, normally 2-3 months. After this time the bags
are collected and the oysters are thinned down, (just like you would
for seedling plants in a pot) in order to make room as they grow. This
process may be repeated 6-8 times depending on the size they were bought
before the oyster reaches a marketable size. Thus 1 bag of seed oysters
can become 20 bags at market size.
  
 
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