Successful harvest at research mussel farm in the Baltic Sea

St Anna archipelago

One of the project's mussel farms is located at the Swedish east coast in St Anna archipelago. The farm started two years ago as a research project to evaluate the effect of mussels as "cleaners" of the sea - to find out what environmental impact the mussel farm would have on the surrounding waters. During spring 2018, the farmer Mats Emilsson could conclude that the harvest was far better than expected. See the SVT-news below.

SLU:s contribution to the Baltic Blue Growth project

The project's farming of mussels in the Baltic Sea aims at reducing eutrophication, while at the same time provide a valuable product (mussels/mussel meal) to be used e.g. as fertilizers on farm land, in biogas production, and as feed for animals. In Baltic Blue Growth project, researchers from two of SLUs faculties are involved. SLU leads a work package on post-harvest processing of blue mussels, handling the complete chain from harvest to market. SLU contribute to its partners with expertise in areas of economy, market and technology, and take the lead in the feed development, biological evaluation of mussels as animal feed, and food safety. SLU is also active in work concerning environmental monitoring, with a main responsibility in environmental modelling.

The Baltic Blue Growth partners

The Baltic Blue Growth partnership consists of mussel producers, public authorities, policy makers, research institutions and network organisations from six Baltic Sea Region countries. Lead partner is Region Östergötland.