The Colruyt supermarket group has already invested in windmills off the Belgian coast, and now it is further involving itself in the region with the creation of a mussel farm.
The grocery chain is installing 50 mussel lines on an area of about one square kilometre, reports De Standaard. They’re expecting to produce about 200 tonnes of cultivated mussels by 2023, with room for potential growth as their total purchase of space amounts to 4.5 square metres.
The farm will be located at sea about 5 kilometres off the coast, between Nieuwpoort and Koksijde.
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In the coming days, buoys will be installed around the area, so that shipping traffic doesn’t pass over the farm. Colruyt has been applying for permits and studying the possibilities for aquaculture off the Belgian coast for some time. Among others, the company GEOxyz from Zwevegem is helping to build the mussel farm.
With this step, Colruyt wants to further integrate even more vertically. They’ve also purchased agricultural land in Belgium for the cultivation of vegetables.
Mussels are very popular in Belgium. Every year the country imports over 25,000 tonnes of mussels, mainly from the Netherlands.
