Plans for largest offshore farm in Europe have been granted

Offshore Shellfish Ltd (OSL) has been granted a lease by The Crown Estate to develop a pioneering offshore, rope cultured mussel farm in Lyme Bay, Devon, UK. Work will soon start on a pilot project, and at its full development of 15.4sq km, the farm will be the largest of its kind in Europe.

The company hopes it will produce up to 10,000 tonnes of mussels a year – more than the entire annual production of Scotland, where much of the UK industry is based.

Offshore Shellfish (OSL), which is to begin a pilot project, hopes eventually to employ up to 30 people on the farm and to help to create three times that number of jobs in the transport, engineering and supply industries.

John and Nicki Holmyard have sold their business on Loch Etive to finance their £5m investment. The mussels will be grown on ropes suspended above the seabed, which ensures they are free from grit. Being offshore, the farm will be well flushed with clean oceanic water that is rich in the plankton on which the mussels feed naturally.

Initially, production will be aimed at the export market.