Much of the mussels grown in Europe are MSCMSC:
Marine Stewardship Council, an independent, international non-profit organization that has developed an eco-label that guarantees well-managed, sustainable fisheries. Fish products that meet the criteria of the eco-label can be identified by the blue MSC logo.-certified. In mussel farming, the mussel seedMussel seed:
Mussel larvae. is fished from the wild and then reared into consumer mussels. The fishing of mussel seed is done with dredges or with mussel seed capture devices (MZIMZI:
Mussel seed capture system, or 'mosselzaadvanginstallatie' in Dutch (MZI), is a specialized system used to caputre mussel seed from the watercolumn. The systems use ropes hanging in the water colum on which mussels seed attach. The ropes are attached to an anker below and floating devices above.s). Under MSC certification, fishing of mussel seed with MZIs is further encouraged. MSC-certified mussels are grown in bottomBottom trawls:
A fishing technique in which cone-shaped nets terminating in a codend are dragged through the water column or along the bottom. culture and ropeRope culture:
Culturing schellfish on poles and/or wire nets that are hanging in the water column. Using feed from the sea water, mussels and other shellfish grow up to consumption size. culture.
MSC mussels from other countries have been allowed to be diluted in the Netherlands since 2016 and then sold as Dutch MSC mussels. Dutch mussels largely come from bottom culture in the Oosterschelde and Grevelingen Lake.