A new site, made available by Carrick District Council, will enable the company to produce up to 200 tones of mussels each year.

Mussels are one of the most popular shellfish eaten in the UK, and currently production cannot meet demand. By growing mussels in Cornwall, the company can provide fresh top quality mussels to wholesale and catering outlets outside Cornwall and develop new marketing opportunities for Cornish produce.

As mussels take around two years to grow, the project will not initially be creating jobs, but once harvesting begins there will be at least three full time jobs.

Alison Elvey, Objective 1 Fisheries Programme Manager commented: "Unfortunately there is not much scope for aquaculture development in Cornwall, however, the Truro river is one area where shellfish can be cultivated and so, by providing funding, the Objective 1 Fisheries programme can assist businesses to make use of the area and create employment in the county."

James Griffin / Steve Kestin from Cornish Mussels commented: "Cornish waters are an excellent place to grow mussels but very few suitable sites exist. Thanks to the enlightened attitude of Carrick District Council we now have a very good site, which is of a size to allow us to compete with the mussel farms in Scotland. Mussel farms are expensive to set up and it takes a long time before the product reaches a marketable size. For this reason the Objective 1 support has been enormously important and we are therefore very grateful. We are now working hard to gather together all the equipment necessary to establish the farm in time for next Spring’s spatt fall."