Dutch mussel production fell to its lowest level in three decades last year, with output dropping sharply due to changing environmental conditions, national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

A total of 21,700 tonnes of mussels were produced in 2024, almost 30% down on a year earlier and around 80% below the level recorded in 1994, the CBS figures show.

The statistics office attributed the decline to natural factors. Increased rainfall has led to an influx of freshwater into cultivation areas, while the availability of food for mussels has also decreased.

Mussels in the Netherlands are mainly grown on seabed sites in the Oosterschelde estuary and the Wadden Sea. Small-scale production also takes place in which mussels are grown on lines suspended in the water.

A large proportion of Dutch mussels are exported to Belgium – around 65% in 2023, according to the producers’ organisation for the Dutch mussel industry.

Shellfish were cultivated across 12,400 hectares of waterways in 2024. Of this area, 84% was used for mussel farming and while the remaining 16% was devoted to oyster cultivation.

In 2024 the Dutch cultivated 27.3 million oysters, most of which were the Zeeland Creuse variety.