RAFT CULTURE

• Suitable for intensive aquaculture.

• Mussels are grown on ropes suspended in the water column from
rafts.
• Commonest method of mussel culture.
• Originally developed in Japan.
• Japan and Spain are the leading countries.
• In India raft culture for mussel is done at Vizhinjam.
• Oysters at Mandapam.
• Hanging down large number of thick but loosely woven
coir ropes from rafts floating on the surface.
• The rafts are rectangular wooden frames generally made of
bamboo poles
• Measures 25mx 16 m size on an average.
• Buoyed by floats
• Each raft carry 500 to 600 ropes.
• One month old mussel seeds about 12mm size raised in farms or
collected from natural mussel beds are strung to the ropes.
• Spacing of about 20 cm from each other.
• Harvesting is done after 18 months when the mussels attain
marketable size.
• It should be done before spawning as the mussels may lose weight
after spawning.
 Long line culture
• Is represented by horizontal lines
• Serially placed and kept floating with the help of floats.
• Synthetic ropes are used to make long lines.
• From these long lines,ropes containing spat are hung down
vertically.
• This method can be adopted in shallow estuaries.
 Rack culture
• Involves fixing a rack made up of wooden poles into the sea
bottom.
• Above the water column, a horizontal wooden platform is made.
• From this platform mussel seeds are placed within synthetic net
tubes and suspended downwards.
• This method can be practiced in shallow coastal waters.
 Harvesting
• When mussels reach marketable size,they are manually
removed and washed thoroughly
• The mussels are separated with the help of a sharp
wedge.
• The mussels with different sizes are sorted and
marketed.