Some insight about the farming process of Mussels and Oysters here in Ljuta, Kotor Bay Mussel meat is in great demand due to its nutrition facts, it can be eaten raw, cooked (popularly “on buzara”) or fried. They are grown on nursery lines or buoys connected by ropes. “At the same time, the rope serves as a collecting tool for the young ones, but also as a strap to install breeding pergolas. I own about 220 pergolas in one line and each of them can bring about 10kg of mussels. It takes one mussel a year and a half to reach its harvest size “, explains Luka. In November, the carrying ropes or collecting tools are being cleaned of mussels. The young mussels are being picked and packed in cylindrical nets. The net is being tied with a thin rope and hung on the same ropes. From November to November, mussels grow on the collecting tool, and from November in pergola until the beginning of April, when the harvest begins. Next is the story of oyster shells, better known as the best “aphrodisiac”. “As for oysters, their growing process is a bit longer, it takes 3 years to reach the consumable size (6 cm). It is grown by placing collectors first. Personally, I use the traditional way, used pergolas made of mussels that I hang on breeding lines ”. Luka explains that all shellfish grow very fast at the beginning, and can even double their size in one day. Their larvae float on the surface. After 7 days they transform into shells that remain in the shallow water not deeper than one meter, along the shores. Not so often mussels thrive in deeper water due to a large number of fish species that prey upon them. |
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