Penn Cove Mussell Farm

The mussel farm, which started in 1975 and is the largest of it's kind, is a group of 42 rafts anchored at the western end of Penn Cove. From those rafts hang some 30-thousand lines where the mussels attach themselves and grow.

Penn Cove has the highest density of naturally occurring mussels in Puget Sound, a fact punctuated by the mussel encrusted pilings of the Coupeville Wharf.
The magic of why these mussels are so good lies in the geography of the region. Two fresh-water river systems that feed into the east side of the island, (which) brings a lot of nutrient rich water from the mountains. To the west is the Olympic Mountain Range. The mountains absorb much of the rain from incoming Pacific storms, creating a rain-shadow where the climate is somewhat warmer and drier. That makes a good situation for algae development. Mussels love to eat algae and here they grow quickly, allowing Jones and his team to harvest the mussels after they are only a year old. Jones says, "This makes the mussels always very tender, never, never chewy."