En ny referentgranskad och omfattande rapport från en stor internationell forskningsgrupp av experter (se nedan) och publicerade i ”Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier Science Direct)” (Mars, 2020), visar att musselodling kan vara en effektiv miljöåtgärd som minskar eutrofiering i Östersjön. Resultaten visar också att den odlingsytan som skulle behövas för att nå näringsreducerings-målet från HELCOM är realistisk genom musselodling.
Forskningsgruppen inkluderar experter från Finland, Sverige, Danmark, Tyskland, Estland, Litauen och Ryssland.
- Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Tallinn, Estonia
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany
- Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences,, Öregrund, Sweden
- Department of Marine Sciences, Tjärnö Marine Laboratory, University of Gothenburg, Tjärnö, Sweden
- Novia University of Applied Sciences, Ekenäs, Finland
- Marine Research Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, Helsinki, Finland
- Coastal Research and Management, Kiel, Germany
- Musselfeed AB, Ellös, Sweden
- Orbicon, Department for Nature and Environment, Denmark
- AquaBiota Water Research, Stockholm, Sweden
- Sankt-Petersburg Research Centre of Russian Academy of Science, St.Petersburg, Russian
- DHI, Hørsholm, Denmark
- Marine Research Institute, Klaipeda University, Klaipėda, Lithuania
- Department of Animal Nutrition and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
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Environmental and Marine Biology, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Abstract
Eutrophication is a serious threat to aquatic ecosystems globally with pronounced negative effects in the Baltic and other semi-enclosed estuaries and regional seas, where algal growth associated with excess nutrients causes widespread oxygen free “dead zones” and other threats to sustainability. Decades of policy initiatives to reduce external (land-based and atmospheric) nutrient loads have so far failed to control Baltic Sea eutrophication, which is compounded by signi!cant internal release of legacy phosphorus (P) and biological nitrogen (N) fixation. Farming and harvesting of the native mussel species (Mytilus edulis/trossulus) is a promising internal measure for eutrophication control in the brackish Baltic Sea. Mussels from the more saline outer Baltic had higher N and P content than those from either the inner or central Baltic. Despite their relatively low nutrient con- tent, harvesting farmed mussels from the central Baltic can be a cost-effective complement to land-based mea- sures needed to reach eutrophication status targets and is an important contributor to circularity. Cost effectiveness of nutrient removal is more dependent on farm type than mussel nutrient content, suggesting the need for additional development of farm technology. Furthermore, current regulations are not sufficiently conducive to implementation of internal measures, and may constitute a bottleneck for reaching eutrophication status targets in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere.
