Mussel Production in the Global Blue Food System: Current Status, Sustainability Challenges, and Future Trajectories

This review examines the status, challenges, and future trajectories of global mussel aquaculture within the blue food system. Despite steady production growth, mussels’ relative contribution to total bivalve output has significantly declined over recent decades due to disproportionate expansion of oyster, clam, and scallop sectors. A major geographical production shift has occurred, with Asia, spearheaded by China, emerging as the dominant region, supplanting traditional European producers while the Americas rapidly ascend. China’s overwhelming dominance in overall bivalve production starkly contrasts with its underdeveloped mussel sector, where growth lags behind other bivalves despite substantial absolute increases, reflecting a fundamental restructuring of species composition. The industry faces interconnected sustainability constraints: persistent vulnerabilities in spat supply stemming from environmental variability, hatchery limitations, and disease transmission risks; escalating environmental stressors including climate change impacts, harmful algal blooms, pollution, and pathogens; structural flaws in value chains characterized by fragmented production, market volatility, and underutilized byproducts; and governance challenges related to spatial access and licensing inefficiencies. This review advocates for a comprehensive strategy to boost the mussel aquaculture. These encompass advancing hatchery technology and genetic breeding programs, implementing ecosystem-based management such as multi-trophic systems and AI-enhanced environmental monitoring, restructuring value chains through producer cooperation and high value product diversification, and establishing science-based spatial planning frameworks with streamlined governance. Addressing these challenges holistically is critical to position mussel farming as a resilient pillar of sustainable blue food production capable of reconciling ecological integrity with economic viability and social equity.