"The California Coastal Commission has approved development of the first shellfish ranch in federal waters, a 100-acre underwater plot for cultivating and harvesting about 2.6 million pounds of Mediterranean mussels a year."

"'It’s quite an achievement and I’m pretty happy about it,' Philip Cruver, president and director of Catalina Sea Ranch, said about the commission’s unanimous vote Wednesday. 'But I always knew it would happen because of the demand.'

Catalina Sea Ranch's business strategy is in line with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s aim to create jobs, provide highly nutritional food and improve the marine environment by putting more shellfish back in U.S. waters."

Louis Sahagun reports for the Los Angeles Times January 11, 2014. [2]