Topic Oysters: Concept 5 Oysters as food

Archeological findings indicate that oysters were an integrated part of the diets in coastal communities already during the stone- and bronze age, and later also in the Viking culture. Today, molluscs are the third largest category of farmed seafood by both quantity and value, accounting for 21% (17.2 millions tons) of all global aquaculture production by weight in 2019, worth approximately 274.76 billion dollars, of which approximately 6.1 million tons are oysters, worth approximately 7.39 billion USD (FAO 2022). The oyster production has, however, struggled with overexploitation of wild populations and periodic failures in culture linked to pathogen outbreaks both in historical (Bustel et al. 2009, Wijsman et al. 2019) and in recent times (Pernet et al. 2016, Wijsman et al. 2019). A common tool to address these challenges has been the introduction of new oyster species which has led to dispersal of invasive species (both as target species in aquaculture and as accidental transmission with culture species) and exacerbated disease challenges (Botta et al., 2020).