![\"Moretti's](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2016\/11\/160623_Bangs_Island_0015.jpg\")
<\/a>Moretti’s mussels operation on Custom House Wharf in Portland includes, at right, his working boat, La Cozze,<\/em> and his houseboat, at left.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cI realized the traditional ocean research track wasn\u2019t what I wanted to do [with my life],\u201d he says, so after his time in Mo\u2019orea and Catalina, as part of his master’s work, “aquaculture presented itself as a tangible something I could do, not just be interested in.”<\/p>\n Moretti returned to his home state, eager for experience and work. He found it on an oyster farm, where he cultivated his love for aquaculture.<\/p>\n And then he learned that a Casco Bay mussel farm was for sale.<\/p>\n In 2010, Moretti and his dad, Gary, bought Bangs Island Mussels.<\/p>\n For some, mixing business and family would be an instant recipe for disaster, but Moretti appreciates his business arrangement.<\/p>\n Moretti and his father, Gary Moretti, pose for a portrait at the Bangs Island Mussels processing facility on the Portland waterfront.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cDad\u2019s given me a lot of freedom to do things in the business that I wouldn\u2019t have had in a more traditional relationship with a business partner. He puts a lot of faith in my ability to help make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n He pauses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of trust in one another, I suppose. He always has my back, and I always have his.\u201d<\/p>\n On harvest days, which occur two or three times a week throughout the year, Moretti and his team begin at six o\u2019clock; for five months of the year, that\u2019s before the sun has risen.<\/p>\n They meet at a marina warehouse, the home of Bangs Island Mussels land operations, located on a wharf off Commercial Street in downtown Portland.<\/p>\n The supplies for the day are lowered into an idling boat, La Cozze, <\/em>Italian for \u201cThe Mussel,\u201d by a small crane over the cargo hold. Crates packed with ice, empty \u201ctotes\u201d (large plastic bins), and a silvery stainless-steel sorting table are arranged on the deck.<\/p>\n Then, the boat shoves off, carefully minding Loretta, the harbor mascot, a partially-blind seal who makes her home in the calm waters of the marina, before setting course due east.<\/p>\n It will take slightly less than an hour to reach the first raft.<\/p>\n Moretti ’06 steers La Cozze<\/em> out of Portland Harbor toward Clapboard Island in Casco Bay, the site of the day’s mussel harvest.<\/p><\/div>\n You can cultivate mussels any number of ways. Moretti uses the Spanish style, in which thick, coarse ropes, each seeded with mussels, hang suspended from rafts that float in the cool waters of the Casco Bay.<\/p>\n It takes the mussels about 18 months to mature. All the while, the filter-feeding shellfish feed on the nutrients within their ecosystem, giving Bangs Island Mussels a distinctive flavor profile, says Moretti.<\/p>\n Bangs Island Mussels grow on ropes that hang from rafts, and each rope is about 35 feet long.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not dissimilar to wine, where the same type of grape will taste different depending on where it\u2019s grown, the specific region of earth, and its surrounding climate.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike some of their bivalve brethren, the mussels don\u2019t come into contact with the sandy bay bottom, so they are grit-free, creating a more enjoyable experience for the eventual diner.<\/p>\n Plus, because the rafts are protected with nets, the mussels aren\u2019t in danger of being eaten by crabs or starfish. With the lack of predation, the mussel\u2019s shell remains thinner, allowing the meat to grow thick, sweet, and plump.<\/p>\n Moretti has 10 rafts on his aquatic farm, along with a processing barge, \u201cand we can have 400 lines on one raft alone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Once the team reaches the farm, the work continues. First, they use their boat to pull the barge \u2014 which houses all of the processing equipment \u2014 into position next to one of the rafts.<\/p>\n After reaching the harvest site off Clapboard Island in Casco Bay, the crew prepares the barge for harvesting.<\/p><\/div>\n Next, the team begins to pull lines, attaching the mussel ropes to a medieval-looking pulley system on the barge that drags the lines through a tiny hole, releasing the mussels from the rope like beads from a broken necklace.<\/p>\n As the mollusks spill onto the deck, they\u2019re moved into a large pile with colorful plastic shovels, the Crayola red and yellow standing in sharp contrast to the mud-soaked planks of the barge. Moretti and his workers spray the mussels, both to wash off mud that collects despite their perch above the ocean floor and to keep them cool and fresh.<\/p>\n A pulley and winch pulls a mussel-encrusted rope onto the barge for processing.<\/p><\/div>\n The mussels are then spun through the stainless-steel declumper and grading wheel, which help weed out the smaller mussels from the market-grade fare.<\/p>\n The hum of the hydraulic motors running the declumper forbids any conversation below a hearty yell. Instead, the team works with a quiet cadence, using hand signals when necessary.<\/p>\n Once the mussels are carefully hand-sorted, they are placed on ice and loaded onto the boat.<\/p>\n On the barge, Moretti (left) feeds the clumped mussels into a machine that breaks their byssal threads and does an initial sorting. Crew member Adam Shapiro (right) collects the separated mussels.<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cAquaculture on the ocean, like we do it, basically takes two jobs with very unpredictable elements \u2014 farming and fishing \u2014 and puts them together,\u201d says Moretti.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re in the open ocean, vulnerable to a lot of elements at play that we don\u2019t have control over. We try and mitigate those risks as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n After they’re declumped, cleaned, and sorted by machine, the mussels are hand-sorted by crew members Kirstina Littig and Daniel Dunham.<\/p><\/div>\n While heavy winds and torrential storms can spell trouble for raft-style mussel farms, it\u2019s a certain duck-billed deviant that poses the biggest (and perhaps most annoying) threat.<\/p>\n \u201cEider ducks are the bane of my existence,\u201d says Moretti, chuckling softly. \u201cThey\u2019re incredible mussel eaters. They can eat their body weight in mussels in a single day.\u201d<\/p>\n Moretti and his crew spend a large amount of time and energy attempting to passively deter the ducks from eating their mussels by deploying protective netting that hangs below the waterline around the rafts.<\/p>\n Good fences make good neighbors…and tasty mussels grown to term.<\/p>\n The harvest is delivered back to the warehouse by 3 p.m., where the second shift waits to begin their day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n Back at the Bangs Island processing facility on the Portland waterfront, workers process and prepare the harvest for delivery to eateries near and far.<\/p><\/div>\n Under the watchful eye of Gary, who manages this second phase of the harvest, the Bangs Island team members continue the \u201cwash, rinse, repeat\u201d mantra executed on the barge.<\/p>\n The mussels are fed through a variety of sorting and debearding machines, and are subject to more inspection and hand-grading before they\u2019re packed on ice, ready for the distributors.<\/p>\n On average, the team can process 2,500 pounds of product in a single day.<\/p>\n From an environmental perspective, mussel farming is a very low impact way of producing food compared to other farming systems. And Moretti\u2019s proud of that fact.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t get into a business that had a negative effect on the environment,\u201d says Moretti.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ocean farming practices go back to our core company goals: to provide the finest quality seafood in a completely safe and sustainable manner,\u201d says Moretti.<\/p><\/div>\n As active filter feeders, mussels improve local water quality by \u201cremoving phytoplankton, which in excess can reduce water quality,\u201d explains Professor of Biology Will Ambrose.<\/p>\n Mussels also remove carbon from the water but whether that helps make seawater less acidic \u2014 a claim made by some aquaculture supporters \u2014 isn\u2019t proven, Ambrose says, noting that \u201cthe carbonate system that controls seawater pH is very complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n Moretti and his father believe strongly in employing environmentally safe farming methods. \u201cWe don\u2019t add anything artificial or foreign to the system to help grow the mussels,\u201d says Moretti.<\/p>\n \u201cOur ocean farming practices go back to our core company goals: to provide the finest quality seafood in a completely safe and sustainable manner.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Bangs Island Mussels are distributed nationally, from Atlanta restaurants to Denver eateries and everywhere in between.<\/p>\n Close to home, one of Moretti\u2019s local buyers is self-taught culinary wizard Andrew Taylor \u201903, an award-winning chef and co-owner of three Portland restaurants, Eventide Oyster Co., Hugo\u2019s, and The Honey Paw.<\/p>\nSon and Pop Shop<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Early Bird<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Grit-Free Grub<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Phase 1<\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a>Duck Tales<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Sorting It Out<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Building a Responsible Business<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Spreading the Love<\/h3>\n