There is extensive aquaculture in Pelorus Sound, mainly longline mussel farms, and the small port at Havelock services the industry and commercial fishing.
Havelock is the centre for much of the New Zealand green-lipped mussel industry, and is called the greenshell mussel capital of the world.
Havelock, at the head of Pelorus Sound, is 41 kilometres west of Blenheim on state highway six. The township is the service centre for the mussel farming and processing industry in the western Marlborough Sounds.
Some information from A Case Study of Havelock by Taylor Baines & Associates:
Over the last three decades of the 20th century, Havelock experienced the transition from wet fish to marine farming. This transition into mussel harvesting arose from the decline of small-boat wet-fishing, and the collapse of the scallop industry. In the 1970's most mussels were harvested closer to Havelock, in Kenepuru and the inner Pelorus Sound, while fishers had to travel nearer to Nelson and Picton to catch wet fish and scallops.
The first specially designed factory for mussel processing was established at Havelock in 1981. Prior to its opening, mussels harvested in the district were processed at plants in Nelson, Motueka and Blenheim. The ownership of mussel farms has changed radicallyover the last 25 years. There are fewer ‘hands-on’ owners as economies of scale have prompted family operators to sell out to large companies which employ contract workers to harvest the mussels. Two large companies, Pacifica and Sanford, own about 150 farms between them. Sanford became the country’s largest producer of mussels in 1988, and by 1992 owned over 50 mussel farms in the Marlborough Sounds. These mussel farms are vertically integrated with the company’s processing plant at Havelock which not only handles their harvest, but also that of other farms in the area.
The mussels grow on longline technology that uses continuous crop ropes, ranging from 3,000 to 4,200 metres in length.
The time from spat to harvest varies by growing area and ranges from 26 months in the northern region to 48 months in the far south.
Sanford operated five harvesting boats in 1999, and employed about 180 people (85 per cent of whom were full-time workers) in its harvesting and processing activities at Havelock. Various estimates suggest that some 80 per cent of mussels from Pelorus Sound come across the wharf at Havelock.
Until recently training for mussel harvesting and processing has been work based rather than at tertiary institutions. People employed by Sanford Ltd, for instance, often progress through several jobs. They may start in the factory, but should they express an interest in working on the boats they may occasionally be given work on a boat before they eventually secure full-time employment on the water. Sanford’s also provides in-house training for its workers in the use of equipment and health and safety practices.
Activities With Mussels:
*Havelock holds an annual festival, the HAVELOCK MUSSEL & SEAFOOD FESTIVAL in March 2017 featuring local Greenshell Mussels and King Salmon. (
visit link)
*The Greenshell Mussel Cruise departs from the Havelock Marina daily over the summer visiting a Greenshell Mussel farm where your launch captain will explain the intricacies of growing this delicacy in the Sounds. (
visit link)
*The Mussel Pot: This quirky little place has been serving up the famous NZ green shell mussels for the last 20 years. Main road near the Marina. (
visit link)
* Eating delicious Green Shell Mussels on the waterfront at the Slip Inn Cafe, right at the Marina in Havelock. (
visit link)