Mussel beds respond to storms in two ways: how well they can weather the storm and how quickly they recover after the storm is over. If clams return to normal quickly after a storm, they can limit the damage from the storm. But if the effects of the storm last long, it becomes more difficult for mussels to recover. Over the past 12 years, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) has recorded 32 severe storms in the Netherlands that caused severe weather alarms. It is notable that of these 32 storms, 8 were within 3 days of another severe storm. Since we expect more storms in the future, it is important to understand how repeated storms affect the ability of mussel beds or of mussels in mussel culture plots to recover.
To read more about this see: Knowledge base: Impact of successive storm events on mussel recovery potential inplots