Royal Frysk Jutland blue shell mussel dredge

MSC status

Certified as sustainable in March 2012.

Summary

Species: Mussel (Mytilus edulis) 
Location:  East coast of Jutland, Denmark.
Fishing methods: Mussel dredge
Vessels:  5
Number of fisheries: 1

More about Mussels

The blue mussel, Mytilus edulis is a sessile bivalve which can withstand wide variation in salinity, desiccation, temperature and oxygen concentration, resulting in the ability to occupy a large variety of microhabitats.In soft bottom areas as the Limfjord, the mussels form stabilised mussel beds of interconnected mussels and dead shells. Mussel beds are often dominant in terms of biomass, and form a key component of many marine communities.The blue mussel Mytilus edulis is a filter-feeding bivalve filtering primary on micro-algae and debris, but at lower rates also on zooplankton.

More about the fishing methods

The mussels are fished by one or two dredges on each vessel. The dredge is the Dutch type of mussel dredge. The 2 metre wide steel dredge has to have a maximum weight of 100 kg. On the frame is attached a 2-3 metre long bag. The bottom part of the bag is a made up of a chain link matrix and the upper part of the bag is made of nylon mesh. The mouth of the dredge must be equipped with bars or a grille with a spacing of no more then 25cm to prevent any large substratum material such as boulders from entering the dredge.The vessels under assessment use ground discriminating sonar and underwater video equipment to identify areas suitable for fishing before deploying their dredges.

Fishery tonnage

Landings in the past 3 years from the East Jutland area have averaged 6,373t (approximately 0.8% of
the total stock).

Commercial market

The mussels landed from the East Jutland fishery are sold to both the live market and processed with the majority being exported.

Actual eligibility date

17 May 2011