The German stakeholder meeting was co-organised under the Baltic Blue Growth project and provided a comprehensive overview of the state of affairs within the Baltic Sea mussel farming in Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
Nearly 40 experts from science, administration, NGOs and industry met in Warnemünde on 19.3.2019 and discussed the current situation of mussel farms for water quality improvement in the Baltic Sea. Based on current results from research farms in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Wieker Bodden / Greifswalder Bodden), Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel Bay) and Denmark (Mariager Fjord), ecological aspects such as the growth behavior of mussels, their effects on the sediment and the realized nutrient reduction after harvesting were discussed. What is not yet possible in Germany can already be applied in Denmark where mussel farms are regarded as a recognised measure for nutrient reduction and can help to achieve the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. The careful selection of mussel farm sites was discussed as being the most important criterion to be able to comply with the prohibition of deterioration. Undisputed were the ecosystem services associated with shellfish. However, these would have to be better publicised in order to increase the acceptance of mussel farms. At the end of the event, possibilities for financing ecosystem services were presented.
The event was realized as part of the projects Baltic Blue Growth, BONUS OPTIMUS and LiveLagoons and for the first time, made it possible to have an information exchange between relevant German authorities in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. Organizers were EUCC – The Coastal Union Germany (EUCC-D), Ministry of Energy, Agriculture, the Environment, Nature and Digitalization Schleswig-Holstein, Dep. 2: Agriculture, Sanitary Consumer Protection and Fisheries and Leibniz-Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemuende.
The presentations will be available shortly at the conference website: https://www.eucc-d.de/baltic-blue-growth/articles/konferenz-zur-muschelkultivierung-in-der-ostsee.html
