RE-TUBING

    Vessels must be specially adapted for re-tubing. The first step is to install an access ramp. Straight after the ramp, there is a device to detach the mussels which, although self-contained, works in conjunction with the hauler. It is powered by a hydraulic pump, fitted to the boat's engine.

    A roller to carry the line overboard is installed at the bow. The access ramp has an incorporated vertical roller which controls the line at the stern.

    Figure 5 shows the bow roller, which is displaced to starboard to provide more space for manoeuvrability, and the stern roller, which is fitted to the ramp. The ropes are pulled out of the water and up the ramp by the hydraulic hauler (1).

    A device to pull the mussels off the rope has been inserted between the hauler and the ramp. It drops the mussels into the de-clumping machine (4) to be de-clumped and graded before passing into the re-tubing machine (5) from which the new, re-tubed rope will emerge to be fastened once more onto the line (7) as it passes over the bow.

    Once the re-tubing process is complete, the ropes, which have now been hung from the line, are covered by perfectly graded mussels, free of parasites, which slowed down growth rates. This promotes more uniform growth and an increase in the quality of the product.

    Although we have described the continuous re-tubing process in general terms, it is also possible, depending on circumstances, to carry out the processes of collection, de-clumping and re-tubing independently of one another.