Aquascope

Introduction

Forms of cultivation

Why aquaculture

History

Which specie

Problems associated with aquaculture

Cultivating molluscs

Cultivating blue mussels

Cultivation methods

Problems associated with mussel cultivation

Threats

Poisonous mussels?

Foodstuffs
(recipe)

 

Threats against mussel farms

In Swedish waters the most serious competitor for food and space is the sea squirt Ciona intestinalis. If the blue mussels are not harvested within two years, large growths of sea squirts cause great problems. The sea squirt lives as a larva only a short period and the young colonize areas close to adults of the same species. Other organisms that grow on mussel farms are barnacles and polychaetes such as Pomatoceros triqueter.


Sea squirts.  

Regarding predators, crabs and starfish are seldom a problem as long as the ropes do not come in contact with the bottom, but with bottom cultivation, crabs, starfish, crows, eiders, gulls and oystercatchers are a threat. In the Netherlands, starfish are a problem and results in the use of special rollers that scrape them way. If mussels and starfish are scraped up at the same time, the starfish die after a short period of time in the air, while the mussels can be sown again on the bottom.


Dutch mussel scraper.

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© Aquascope 2000   Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, Strömstad, Sweden
Bo Johannesson | Martin Larsvik | Lars-Ove Loo | Helena Samuelsson