From the December 14th Edition of the Salem News.
An aquaculture project that Salem State University marine research scientists hope will produce acres of mussels in a stretch of deep, open water off the coast of Cape Ann has received the necessary permits to proceed.
Now all the project managers need is ... what else? Money.
Mark Fregeau, a Salem State marine biology professor, said the project he is managing with colleague and collaborator Ted Maney has been greenlighted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and will begin in earnest once they raise about $75,000 they need to begin laying the initial long lines upon which the mussels will grow.
The mussel farm will be located in federal waters, about 8 1/2 miles due east of Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, at a site the researchers believe will provide the perfect environment for a deepwater mussel farm that would be the first of its kind in the United States.
“We’ve been authorized to put out a couple of (experimental) lines and see how they work and what issues might arise,” Fregeau said. “The reality is that until we actually get into the water, we don’t know exactly what we’ll be dealing with. So it will be rolled out in phases, a couple lines at a time, and that will give us the opportunity to report back to the Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA.”
The scientists have applied for a host of grants to fund the next phase of their project, including an application for SaltonstallKennedy grant money from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They hope to begin the project in the spring.