European Aquaculture

Scallop aquaculture development started in Europe in the 1970s with its main efforts in countries along the Atlantic coasts. The main species of interest have been the great scallop Pecten maximus, the queen scallop Aequipecten opercularis and the black or variegated scallop Mimachlamys varia. Research and development programmes carried out involve spat production from natural spat-fall and hatcheries, suspended and bottom culture techniques and sea-ranching to support fisheries. These development efforts have been conducted under a wide range of economic and industrial conditions, but currently the aquaculture of scallops is a marginal industry in Europe. Based on this wide experience and concerns on the constraints to the development, the prospects of scallop aquaculture in Europe are discussed. © 2016 Elsevier B.V