The mussel puzzle: Expanded mussel farming with minimized environmental effects, analysing the importance of farming technology, siting and farming protocols

Farmed blue mussels are independent of global supply chains of feed inputs and advanced technology and are a nutritious and low-impact source of animal-derived food. Interest is growing to significantly increase the use of mussels as food or food ingredient and the expansion potential on a global level is large. Considering this potential, it is surprising that the importance of the specific farming technique used, location and farming strategies chosen for the products’ environmental impacts is still poorly understood. Before mussel farming can be scaled up, such knowledge gaps must be addressed and potential impacts of upscaled production be assessed to optimize future production systems.Here, a team with broad experience of bivalve systems will join forces with leading producers to: a) model important drivers of life cycle impacts of North Atlantic mussel aquaculture, focusing on farming technique, site and farming protocols and define a “best practice” for each region involved, and b) model the expansion potential in these regions and potential impacts of upscaled production to identify potential tradeoffs and mitigation options. Learning from regions where successful upscaling has already taken place, and between regions, the “mussel puzzle” project will show how increased production is possible while minimizing environmental impacts and thereby facilitate a large-scale shift from more impactful, less nutritious, foods to mussels.