Harvesting
At between 12-14 months of age, our farmed mussels are ready to harvest. Naturally we start harvesting those mussels which were socked up first since they’re the biggest in size and weight. Once the size of each mussel reaches 6 to 7 centimeters they’re considered ready for market.
Harvesting begins early each Sunday through Thursday morning every week of the year. Our harvest barge, the "Moule Mariner", goes out with a crew of eight to ten and begins each day's harvest right at the mussel raft in Penn Cove. Click here to watch a video about our harvest process.
“Orders for our products are taken each day at our office on the north side of the Penn Cove, and then radioed out to the harvest crew. And that is precisely what will be harvested that day.”
Orders for our products are taken each day at our office on the north side of the cove, and then radioed out to the harvest crew.And that is precisely what will be harvested that day. Once pulled onto the barge, the mussels are mechanically washed, graded, then weighed and bagged up in the amount of that day's order. At the end of the day, the barge heads to the shore where the product is off loaded into our refrigerated delivery trucks. The trucks leave at 3:00 each morning for the Seattle area market place, restaurants and airport.
The process of inspecting mussels before they are weighed and packed takes place regularly so that our customers are guaranteed the freshest of shellfish available. The products we deliver not only include our mussels, but also Manila Clams and a full line of oysters--all fresh from the water.
Our shellfish products may be found on most seafood restaurant menus by name. If you cannot find our products name on your favorite restaurant menu, bring it up with the chef, or your best seafood wholesaler so that he too will know where to get the best in Northwest shellfish.
Distribution
Once packed and weighed on the harvest barge, our mussels are quickly placed into insulated totes and layer iced until the tote is full, at which point it is flooded with sea water to create an ice slurry which super cools the mussels before they are taken to shore, packed at our HACCP certified packing facility and then then loaded into our refrigerated trucks for immediate delivery to restaurants or wholesalers.
Our trucks are on the road and at the airport five days a week, guaranteeing our customers the freshest shellfish possible. Most customers--near or far--receive our products within 24 hours of them coming out of the water! Click here to watch a video of a typical delivery day for our Seattle Route.
Our mussels are often packed along with our other shellfish products for delivery to the airport and trucking companies for shipping across the country or around the world.
“ Most customers—near or far—receive our products within 24 hours of them coming out of the water!”
