Blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) farming in Europe is an established industry, although production from aquaculture has been declining over the last decade, due to among others, low mussel prices stemming from competition with imported mussels from outside the EU, atomization of the producer sector into small enterprises, lack of sustainable space to enlarge operations and difficulties to obtain permits. Novel technologies that can support diminishing production costs, as well as facilitating expansion of the activity in offshore areas with less marine spatial conflict, can provide improvement for the farming in Europe.
The firm Bohus Havsbruk (BH) has blue mussel farming facilities at seven sites in three different production areas off the west coast of Sweden. The farm uses automated farming technology consisting of floating tubes from which spat collectors (nets) are vertically suspended. The infrastructure used is more robust and flexible than that of traditional mussel farms, thus enabling the farm to operate further offshore. Due to challenges from other stakeholders and governmental restrictions the farm has though not been able to harvest and only maintenance activities are currently ongoing. However, the technology has been tested with good results and has the potential to be up scaled and replicated in other areas.
Using data obtained from BH, we calculated the net present value (NPV) of profits over a period of 10 years. As each production cycle can be up to 36 months long, this allows for three full production periods throughout the whole period, with the company able to harvest 3,000 tonnes per production cycle. Larger mussels are sold directly to fish mongers at a price of 2.06 EUR/kg, while smaller mussels are sold in bulk at a price of 0.84 EUR/kg. The average unit cost of production is 0.68 EUR/kg. Assuming an interest rate of 7%, the NPV of the project is calculated as 0.61 million EUR, indicating that despite very high initial investment costs of 5.4 million EUR, projected revenue for the period can make the operation economically viable. The baseline scenario assumes a predation rate of 10%, mainly from eider ducks, but a higher rate is not sustainable. However, the firm can take on up to 10% higher wages and live with up to 5% lower mussel prices. An interest rate of 9% or higher results in negative NPV.