Wildlife trust urges Govt to reject Cork council request to remove pearl mussel's protected status

The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) has waded into the controversy over the redesignation of the whole of the River Blackwater in Co. Cork as a protected area for the freshwater pearl mussel.
Wildlife trust urges Govt to reject Cork council request to remove pearl mussel's protected status

File photo of the River Blackwater in Co. Cork. Pic: Denis Minihane
File photo of the River Blackwater in Co. Cork. Pic: Denis Minihane

The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) has waded into the controversy over the redesignation of the whole of the River Blackwater in Co. Cork as a protected area for the freshwater pearl mussel.

Cork county councillors want the designation removed amid fears that it will seriously inhibit the growth of farming, industry and housing along the river from the Kerry border to Youghal.

The council has written to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht seeking to re-enter talks with the EU to have the protection status removed.

However, the IWT is calling on the Government to uphold the protection status.

A couple of years ago, the council and the department got the protection status on the River Blackwater removed by the EU, but last December, an environmentalist took a case to the High Court and got that decision reversed.

In a statement, the IWT said it believes that it is 'outrageous that we should continue to be putting our efforts into weakening existing legislation at a time of biodiversity crisis and mass extinction.'

It said the freshwater pearl mussel requires very clean water to complete its life cycle and in Ireland we have witnessed a collapse in water quality in recent decades.

There are only 20 ‘pristine’ water bodies left in the country according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which is down from more than 500 in the 1980s.

As a result, nearly all populations of the mussel cannot produce offspring.

The EPA says that the greatest pressure on water quality in the River Blackwater is agriculture, followed by forestry, land drainage and urban wastewater discharges.

Cork County Council was forced to refuse planning permission for a near 100-house development in Mallow recently because of the protection status given to the freshwater pearl mussel.

IWT campaigns officer, Pádraic Fogarty, said many people continue to believe that it’s okay to drive a species to extinction for the sake of economic growth.

“It’s exactly the mentality that has led to the enormous environmental problems we live with today. Councillors should instead be appalled at the chronic level of pollution and habitat degradation that exists in their county,” Mr Fogarty said.

“People depend upon good water quality just as much as the freshwater pearl mussel.

Our futures are inextricably linked to the fate of the living world around us.

"The IWT would like to thank Green Party councillor Alan O’Connor who was a dissenting voice on Cork County Council on this issue. We’d also like to thank Peter Sweetman who successfully took this case to the High Court.”

Mr Fogarty said that following the High Court decision, the Government and Cork County Council should energetically work towards addressing the serious water quality issues in the county and restoring the freshwater pearl mussel population.

Pearl mussel facts

The freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) is capable of living up to 140 years, but only if it is in non-polluted rivers.

It is a filter-feeder which has a shell in two halves enclosing a soft body. Many people think the creature is almost microscopic, but it can grow up to 15cm-long.

The freshwater pearl mussel likes to live buried or semi-buried in a river bed where it uses siphons to remove food particles from the water. On an average day it can siphon around 50 litres of water.

This filtering activity means that pearl mussels can help to maintain and improve water quality, where they are present in high numbers, such as the River Allow in North Cork, which is a tributary of the River Blackwater.

They have a very long reproductive life. They usually start reproducing at the age of seven and can continue doing so for another 70 years.

Pollution has led to their populations declining in Europe by 90% in the past century and as a result the EU has made them a protected species in some rivers.

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