The blue mussel fishery in the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony has earned Marine Stewardship Council certification. Recently, the was the fishery is operated has been diversified, producing more mussels by complementing mussels fished from mussel beds with mussels that have settled on floating nets.
The mussels harvested from the mussels beds and from the nets are grown to maturity in designated “culture plots” before being marketed. In 2010, the fishers landed 1,070 metric tons (MT) of blue mussels.
The Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony is a national park and has restrictions on commercial activity. The restrictions help ensure there will always be sufficient mussels to support a commercial fishery alongside important wildlife such as the eider duck and oyster catchers who feed on them.
For the fishery, the rules mean that almost one-third of the 102 stable mussel locations in the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony are closed to fishing.
Further measures governing the fishery include:
• The fishermen have to get permission from the authorities for each mussel bed they want to harvest.
• There is a closed season for those areas of the Wadden Sea of Lower Saxony that fall dry during low tide: From mid-December to the end of March, no fishing is allowed there.
• The population size area has to have at least 1,000 hectares and the biomass has to be at least 10,000 MT. If these numbers are undercut in two successive years by more than ten per cent, the fishery will be closed and the authorities will not issue any licences until at least one of these indicators are met again.
• The fishers have to record all of their activities using a “Black Box.” This satellite-based surveillance gives the authorities complete control over the fishery.
Annual stock analysis shows that the rules are effective: The mussel biomass has increased from 9,000 MT to 39,000 MT between 2005 and 2012.
As part of the MSC certification, the fishermen have committed to carrying out a research project to find out whether further stable mussel beds can develop in the area. The Dutch institute for marine science GIMaRIS will conduct the project.
“Recent independent benchmarking studies commissioned by WWF and carried out by the Monterey Bay Aquarium show that no other seafood sustainability certification program approaches the credibility and market acceptance of the MSC program,” said Marnie Bammert, MSC Europe deputy director. “The fishers from Lower Saxony count among only 215 fishing operations globally that have been able to demonstrate that they meet our demanding requirements. We heartily congratulate the blue mussel fishers for achieving the MSC eco-label.”
