I have often gone out for dinner and seen Carlsbad mussels on the menu. Chances are that they were farm raised at Carlsbad Aquafarm. The sea life raised here is sold to nearly 50 distributors that transport it to restaurants and stores nationwide.
John Davis, retired commercial airline pilot, started the farm 18 years ago on a 6-acre area in a section of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon that he leases from SDGand E. With the help of his sons and 20 other employees, he produces millions of shellfish each year, primarily mussels and oysters, but also sea horses, abalone, algae and brine shrimp. John and his sons built the farm from the ground up, including heavy-duty filtration systems. They're an environmentally conscious operation, putting water back into the ocean cleaner than it comes in.
The farm isn't easy to spot. It's on Carlsbad Blvd just south of Carlsbad Village Drive. Look for the rows of white buoys that float in the lagoon. Mussels hang off the buoys in 8-fot-long mesh sleeves submerged in the salty water.
No new products are planned to their existing list of shellfish. Davis wants to grow only things that are indigenous to the area. The shellfish from Carlsbad Aquafarm can be found at all the local farmer's markets in Southern California. We often talk today about knowing where your food comes. It's great to know that the mussels you get in a local restaurant come from our own backyard.
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