Farmers on Melbourne’s doorstep are out to prove their industry is economical and sustainable. They're mussel growers of Port Phillip Bay, and say their product, once regarded as only good for fish bait, is now finding new markets both at home and abroad.
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00:00Lance Whiffen is steaming out from Port Arlington in Port Phillip Bay to check on his mussel leases.
00:09Not in one of his fishing boats, but in a former shark fishing vessel he has converted into a luxury cruiser.
00:16On board today is a tour group from Singapore, enjoying a selection of the finest food and drink.
00:26But this is far more than a culinary cruise. Those on board also learn about the bay's blue mussel industry.
00:35First of all the restaurants started doing it and we got lots of restaurants eating mussels.
00:41And then that allowed us to then start doing retail and we had to improve what we did too.
00:46A pioneer of Victoria's farmed mussel industry, Lance and family started this venture last year and it's been a runaway success.
00:55He believes these tours are the best way to publicly show that the industry is economically valuable and sustainable.
01:03There'd be no better place to grow shellfish than Port Phillip Bay.
01:07Lance is still smarting because in 1997 he and other fishermen were summarily banned from scallop fishing in the bay.
01:15He says for political, not scientific reasons. He's determined to ensure that doesn't happen to mussel farmers.
01:23And we got booted and we got no warning, we were just booted.
01:27That's always frightened me and I realise it can happen any time to any industry regardless of how good it is.
01:33So it's really important that we take people out.
01:37The people of Victoria own this water, the people of Australia own this water.
01:41We just lease it off them. So it's important that they're happy with what we're doing.
01:47Halfway into the cruise, there's the grand reveal.
01:54From five metres below the surface, clinging tightly to special ropes, emerge tens of thousands of mussels and a teeming assortment of other marine life.
02:05This is a mere fraction of an immense underwater network in Port Phillip Bay, an area of almost 2,000 square kilometres.
02:14The bay itself was traditionally, you know, probably the originator of mussel farming in Australia.