HOW TO COUPLE MUSSEL CULTURE AND NATURE CONSERVATION ?

摘要

In many areas, mussel culture is based on the collection of spat from wild beds. Bottom disturbance by seed fishery has been disputed. In The Netherlands this eventually resulted in a state court decision in 2008 to turn down the Natura 2000 fishery permit. After a heated public debate, the mussel industry, the nature conservation NGO's and the government reached an agreement to transform culture practice and seed collection techniques. A stepwise reduction of bottom seed fishery was agreed in combination with the development of suspended seed collectors aiming to produce 40 Mkg seed by 2020. In 2013 a midterm evaluation will take place.