A project to build an experimental blue mussel farm off the Vineyard has cleared a thorny bureaucratic hurdle and may begin as soon as a month from now.

Believed to be an innovative and key leg of a movement to revive the fishing industry here, the project has the backing of state, local and federal funds.

But a requirement for an archaeological survey at the deep water site was threatening to delay the project, and late last week Rick Karney, director of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group, was hopping mad.

“The bottom line is what you have to go through to do an aquaculture project is pretty amazing. The hurdles, the permitting. It is easier to go overseas and start an aquaculture project than do it here,” Mr. Karney said yesterday. Mr. Karney said the archaeological survey will take place but on a much smaller scale than initially required.

And now he has calmed down.

In the works for two years, the project is an experiment to see whether blue mussels can be grown commercially in local offshore waters. Blue mussels grow in the wild here, but there is no commercially viable fishery. The method for cultivating the mussels involves raising them on lines held deep in the water.

Local fish markets sell blue mussels that come from coastal places to the north, as far away as Prince Edward Island, known for its blue mussels.

An initiative was started two years ago by the Chilmark selectmen to find other viable fisheries to keep Menemsha harbor a vibrant commercial fishing port, and the idea of blue mussel farming was introduced. A group that included Mr. Karney traveled to visit a blue mussel farm in New Hampshire and later received assistance from the University of New Hampshire.

Experimental stations were set up in the waters off West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah in 2007 with positive results. Among other things the experiment found that blue mussels grow faster in Vineyard waters than they do in New Hampshire, which will cut production costs. There is still concern about pea crabs, tiny indigenous crabs that are commonly found in wild blue mussels here. Mussels with tiny crabs are far less commercially marketable than clean, crab-free mussels.

Last summer, aquaculture biologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came to the Island to tour Mr. Karney’s shellfish hatchery and talk about the blue mussel project. NOAA has awarded a $214,000 grant to blue mussel projects for the region, of which the Vineyard is a part. Advocates for the project include Scott Lindell, an aquaculture director with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and Sean F. Bowen, an aquaculture specialist with the state Department of Agricultural Resources.

“There are a lot of people who want to see this happen,” Mr. Karney said. The state has given money to the project, along with $6,500 from two private donors on the Island. The Martha’s Vineyard Permanent Endowment Fund committed two $5,000 grants.

Project led by shellfish biologist Rick Karney. — Mark Alan Lovewell

Mr. Karney said he is front-running the project because no single fisherman could go through the bureaucracy and raise the funds alone. The project has required much collaborative effort on the Island.

“We have requested four sites, totalling 75 acres, with each town requesting 25 acres. West Tisbury and Aquinnah have each designated a site of 25 acres. Chilmark has two sites, one that is 10 acres and one that is 15. The sites are each about one to two miles offshore in state waters. Two of the three conservation commissions have already signed off on the project with conditions. Town officials have essentially given the green light to the next step,” Mr. Karney said.

There will be two stations this year and Mr. Karney has yet to decide which two of the three sites will host the stations. Each station will contain a 600-foot-long line suspended 40 feet below the surface. Attached to that line will be a 1,000-foot line that holds socks, which in turn will hold the juvenile blue mussels. As the blue mussels grow, the socks will fall apart. Each station will require two anchors and there will be a buoy to mark the station. The area used is expected to be less than an acre.

The baby blue mussels are coming from Katama Bay, where they are seen as a nuisance by shellfishermen raising cultured oysters. “To the oyster fishermen, blue mussels are considered a pest,” Mr. Karney said.

“We are required to be on the site at least every two weeks, but preferably every week, by the Army Corps of Engineers,” Mr. Karney said. The main concern is about whale or other marine animal entanglements. “So we will attend to the lines and make sure they have the proper tension,” Mr. Karney said. Additional conditions for the sites are being prepared by the Corps.

But by far the biggest obstacle was a requirement by the state Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, charged with protecting archaeological sites. Mr. Karney said the state agency required an extensive — and expensive survey — that could have cost tens of thousands of dollars and postponed the project for a year. With his own experience building and nearly single-handedly running the solar shellfish hatchery on the Lagoon Pond, experience that stretches back for some 30 years, Mr. Karney is acutely aware of the need for environmental — and archaeological — sensitivity. But he said the requirement was onerous given the context for the project. “We only have two anchors for each long line. Everything is suspended in the water column except for these anchors. My biggest problem is that this all came out of the blue. Only .05 per cent of the whole project touches bottom,” he said.

The requirement seemed unfair, he said, noting that even lobster fishermen, with their pots and gear, are exempt from the requirement. “There are activities out there that are more destructive, that have a greater impact on the bottom than we will ever have,” Mr. Karney said.

Through an agreement wrapped up yesterday, Mr. Karney said the terms of the survey were scaled back. The project now will be required to do a sidescan sonar survey of the area in the next two weeks.

Mr. Karney said frankly the past few weeks have been intense.

Warren Doty, a Chilmark selectman who has been actively involved in the movement to revive the fishery, said the blue mussel project is an important symbol for the entire effort. Mr. Doty also oversees the Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund, which has put money into the project. “We are supporting it because it is a new idea and it could bring a lot of new activities to the Menemsha waterfront, and be a significant economic stimulus. We are waiting to see it through this experimental phase,” he said, adding:

“Shellfish aquaculture offers real possibilities for this community. If we can do it in the open water, we will have real opportunities. With the big market for mussels out there, we would love to try this.”

In northern waters it can take 18 months for a blue mussel to reach harvestable size. In Vineyard waters, it can take less time, possibly 12 months. And while now this is only an experiment, by this time next year, there some tasty, locally-harvested blue mussels could be found on Island tables.