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Dieren en planten

Mussel   Bivalves   

Water en land

Coastal areas   Tidal flats and shallows   Biotope   Delta   Delta region   Delta Works and nature   

Mens en Milieu

Dutch shellfish fisheries   Mussel farming   
Mussel lots on the flats, Foto Fitis, www.fotofitis.nl

Mussel farming

In the Netherlands and Niedersachsen (Germany), most mussels are fished up from specially laid-out farming lots. In the spring and fall, 'seed' (young mussels) is fished from the natural mussel banks. This seed is spread out on lots in the Wadden Sea and Zeeland waters. As soon as the mussels measure 4 to 5 centimeters, they are fished up and spread out on other lots where there is more food available for the mussels to grow more quickly.

  • Zeeuws mussels from the Wadden Sea

    When farmed mussels are large enough for consumption, they are fished up and released in the cleaner Oosterschelde (Dutch mussel farmers). The animal is able to rest and get rid of the sand and mud. After this rinsing, they are put on the market as 'Zeeuws mussels'. Eighty to 100 million kilograms of mussels are marketed yearly in this way.