MUSSEL CULTIVATION AS A CO-USE IN OFFSHORE WIND FARMS: POTENTIAL AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY

More than 50% of the annual worldwide harvest of mussels is produced in Europe. The mussel cultivation in Germany is based on an extensive on-bottom culture and depends entirely on natural resources for food, spat and space. Due to stakeholder conflicts and a lack of spat availability, mussel farmers tend to move offshore where space is not limited and adequate settlement guaranteed. Newcomers – the offshore wind farmers – are covering large areas in the German Bight which in contrast give the opportunity to use these areas in a multifunctional way by accepting mussel cultivation within the wind farms. This study compiles the basic data for offshore mussel cultivation in close vicinity to a designated offshore wind farm in the open sea of the German Bight and employs different case-scenario calculations to illustrate the impact of changing parameter values on overall profitability or non-profitability of this activity. Primary focus is placed on the production of consumer mussels but seed mussel cultivati...