The effects of subtidal mussel seed fisheries in the Dutch Wadden Sea on sediment composition

In this report, the effect of seed mussel fishery activities on sediment composition is analysed. The hypothesis is that dredging for mussels brings fine silt in suspension. Tidal currents move silt away from the fishing site and a more course sediment is left behind. For PRODUS experimental plots of each 400 x 200 m have been marked out on sites were natural mussel seed occurred: on one half of the plots fishing was prohibited and on the other half fishing was allowed. Per plot 12 boxcorer samples were taken from which sediment samples were collected before and after fishing. Most plots have also been sampled later during the research, to test for increasing similarity of fished and control sites over time