The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is an independent organisation whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. We seek chiefly to:

• be a forum where researchers can meet across subject borders
• offer unique research environments
• support young researchers
• reward prominent contributions to research
• arrange international scientific contacts
• act as a voice of science and influence research policy priorities
• stimulate interest in mathematics and the natural sciences in schools
• disseminate scientific and popular-scientific information in various forms.

RSAS is the project owner of a study on using large-scale “environmental” mussel farming in the Baltic as a measure to reduce and counter-act coastal eutrophication (www.balticsea2020.se) and is running mussel farming activities along the Swedish Baltic coast. We have a central role in the development of alternative uses of mussels, e.g. as raw material for feed production or as fertilizer on farm land. Our studies on the replacement of fish meal with mussel meal (a sustainable product) in different feeds have created a lot of interest in various areas of agriculture and aquaculture research. Further, a fruitful development of mussel farming as a tool for society to recycle nutrients back to land and thus improve coastal water quality requires a solid system which pays the mussel farmer for the ecosystem service provided.

RSAS’ role in SUBMARINER

In the SUBMARINER project, RSAS’ extensive knowledge on the topic of mussel farming was used in order to further explore the possibilities that this use offers as an environmental measure and with a Baltic perspective. This work included useful results and experiences from all parts of the Baltic Sea and also the use of zebra mussels for improving coastal environments. The production of mussel meal from Baltic Sea mussels has been tested in West Sweden. RSAS also co-hosted a cooperation event on the topic of mussel farming.