Dean

Since he was old enough to work, Dean Higgins has been out on the water farming mussels. 

As a young lad of just fifteen, Dean worked night shifts while still in school. He tried his hand at every job you could do at the mussel factory, until he was old enough to join the boat crew. By twenty-one, he was the skipper.

Dean is a fourth-generation Higgins from Havelock, the heart of New Zealand’s green-lipped mussel industry. Over the last thirty years, Dean has led many crews on many boats farming mussels in the Marlborough Sound. 

He brings his decades of knowledge to Kono where, as On water Manager, he leads the delicate process of collecting, growing, and harvesting mussels for customers around the world.

According to Dean, it’s the best job there is.

“I’m blessed. My office is the wheelhouse of a boat. I get to spend my days in the most beautiful part of New Zealand. I love to see staff come up through the ranks like I did. I suppose I’ve become a bit of a father figure for some of the guys here.”

But farming mussels is no daytime cruise. Every quarter, Dean and his crew are up at 4 am for their crop and seed surveys. They must check every single mussel line – and they’re rarely home before 7 pm. 

To get an accurate estimate of when the mussels will be ready for harvest, Dean and his crew must hoist the 14 metre-long lines with a hook and measure samples from the top, middle, and bottom. Measurements are added to a growing database that Dean must watch carefully throughout the year.

But how do the mussels get to Marlborough? Surprisingly, the microscopic ‘spat’ start their journey over one thousand kilometres away at the top of the North Island, where they’re collected from 90 Mile Beach.

“When there’s a specific set of weather events, the seaweed breaks off and sits in huge patches on 90 Mile Beach. The seaweed is encrusted with baby mussels – like a teaspoon dipped in sugar!”

Between June and December, mussel collectors patrol the beaches, looking for the treasure trove of seaweed pulled ashore by easterly winds. 

Once the call is made, the clock starts ticking. Our nationwide team works together to sort, pack, chill, and transport the mussels from Te Tai Tokerau to Te Tauihu within 48 hours. From there, Dean and his crew work through the night to plant the baby mussels onto ropes – 10,000 mussels to every metre.

Mussel farming is one of the most sustainable seafood products in the world, and New Zealand’s quality assurance programme is one of the strictest.

As well as being accredited under the A+ New Zealand Sustainable Agriculture Programme and implementing its own quality control process, Kono continues to develop a culture of respect for the environment across its whānau of businesses. It’s something that Dean is deeply passionate about.

“If you look after the environment, what you’re growing will thrive. The fish hide in mussel farms and the diversity and abundance in our farms is incredible.”

Dean’s been farming mussels long enough to see the industry transform. He’s proud to have been part of the change to more restorative and protective fishing practices as his team commit to Whenua Ora.

“We do regular beach clean-ups and have strict environmental standards that our boats must operate to. Everyone here is so passionate about the environment and looking after it. We hold each other accountable.”

And Dean knows that protecting the environment inevitably improves the quality of the product. His faithful mussel recipe is deliciously simple, but there’s a knack to it.

“I open the mussels raw, then coat them in a half-half mix of flour and cornflour. Then I shallow-fry them in butter. The secret is to open them and not to steam them – open them raw!”

When he’s not on the water or in his office monitoring three different weather reports to plan the week ahead, Dean is at the local mountain bike park with his family. He reckons he’s done every track in Marlborough!