Over 80 percent of New Zealand’s aquaculture exports - worth more than $NZ 200 million per annum - come from the Marlborough Sounds.
Most of the marine farms are in Pelorus Sound.
Most of the exports involve green-lipped mussels.

A New Zealand sea sponge, Mycale hentscheli, which grows in Pelorus Sound, may hold the key to an anti-cancer drug.
Scientists are working to see how peloruside, a substance produced by the sponges, might be used as a cancer-fighting drug.
Marine farmers are helping Victoria University of Wellington and NIWA develop a method for growing the sponge on an existing mussel farm.

Trial mussel farms began in the Marlborough Sounds in the late 1960s.
In the Pelorus Sound waters, mussel farms started in Kenepuru Sound and in Crail Bay.
Subsequently, Pelorus has become the major mussel-producing area in New Zealand.
Initially, the mussels were cultured on ropes suspended from rafts.
It was a labour-intensive method which has since been replaced with a modified Japanese longline system, where mussel spat is packed into stockings and suspended from parallel rows of looped ropes, supported by buoys.

In 1981 the first specially designed mussel-processing factory started operations at Havelock, at the head of the sounds.
Havelock has become the main centre for landing harvested mussels, with other smaller processing plants at French Pass, Elaine Bay, Okiwi Bay and Rai Valley.
People are needed to manage and work the farms, and to harvest and transport the mussels to the processing plants.
As a result, the mussel-farming industry has become closely linked to several local communities.

Heavy rain can result in high sediment-levels in rivers and land runoff, and can contain bacterial contamination from livestock.
This can result in mussel-farming areas being closed to harvesting.
Applications to increase mussel farms in Admiralty Bay have been successfully opposed on the grounds that the area is a special feeding site for the dusky dolphin.
A claim has been made, and a study carried out in New Zealand, that marine farms may affect the feeding ability of Dusky dolphins which round up shoals of schooling fish such as pilchard.
The farming of Chinook Salmon also occurs in the outer Pelorus, with sites at Bulwer and the Waitata Reach.
Salmon farming in the sounds is likely to expand in future years into the Cook Strait.
Over 80 percent of New Zealand’s aquaculture exports - worth more than $NZ 200 million per annum - come from the Marlborough Sounds. Most of the marine farms are in Pelorus Sound. Most of the exports involve green-lipped mussels.
A New Zealand sea sponge, Mycale hentscheli, which grows in Pelorus Sound, may hold the key to an anti-cancer drug. Scientists are working to see how peloruside, a substance produced by the sponges, might be used as a cancer-fighting drug. Marine farmers are helping Victoria University of Wellington and NIWA develop a method for growing the sponge on an existing mussel farm.
Trial mussel farms began in the Marlborough Sounds in the late 1960s. In the Pelorus Sound waters, mussel farms started in Kenepuru Sound and in Crail Bay. Subsequently, Pelorus has become the major mussel-producing area in New Zealand. Initially, the mussels were cultured on ropes suspended from rafts. It was a labour-intensive method which has since been replaced with a modified Japanese longline system, where mussel spat is packed into stockings and suspended from parallel rows of looped ropes, supported by buoys.
In 1981 the first specially designed mussel-processing factory started operations at Havelock, at the head of the sounds. Havelock has become the main centre for landing harvested mussels, with other smaller processing plants at French Pass, Elaine Bay, Okiwi Bay and Rai Valley. People are needed to manage and work the farms, and to harvest and transport the mussels to the processing plants. As a result, the mussel-farming industry has become closely linked to several local communities.
Heavy rain can result in high sediment-levels in rivers and land runoff, and can contain bacterial contamination from livestock. This can result in mussel-farming areas being closed to harvesting. Applications to increase mussel farms in Admiralty Bay have been successfully opposed on the grounds that the area is a special feeding site for the dusky dolphin. A claim has been made, and a study carried out in New Zealand, that marine farms may affect the feeding ability of Dusky dolphins which round up shoals of schooling fish such as pilchard. The farming of Chinook Salmon also occurs in the outer Pelorus, with sites at Bulwer and the Waitata Reach. Salmon farming in the sounds is likely to expand in future years into the Cook Strait.
Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere