"Freshwater mussels are the kind of species most of us dont notice very often but they are crucial to clean water and to the survival of aquatic animals and fish,said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark. "Thats why this case and the projects that will be funded to protect and conserve mussels are so important."
U.S. mussels have become the target of poachers because of their value in the international production of cultured pearls. Most of these pearls have centers made from U.S. mussels. The mussel shells are ground, shaped into beads and inserted into live oysters, which then coat the beads with minerals, resulting in pearls. States regulate the legal harvest of all freshwater mussel species, often closing waterways to harvest. Shells from state-regulated rivers in the South and Midwest are in the most demand by the pearl industry because they are larger and thicker than other mussel shells and produce larger, more valuable pearls. Poachers violate state harvest regulations in order to collect the larger, more profitable shells. The legal shell industry in this country employs about 10,000 people, mainly along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In July 1998 the Tennessee Shell Company pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Lacey Act for buying and exporting thousands of pounds of freshwater mussels illegally taken from rivers in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The company agreed to pay $1 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for use in mussel conservation. That settlement marked the culmination of a four-year investigation of the company, the largest shell exporter in the country, and its suppliers, which was conducted by Service special agents; state wildlife officers from Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, and Louisiana; and the U.S. Department of Justice. "Service law enforcement agents and state wildlife officers work hard to protect our natural resources from illegal harvesting," Clark said. "Thanks to the forward-looking legal settlement in this case, the Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are using the restitution monies to support mussel conservation efforts.
The Foundation created the Freshwater Mussel Conservation Fund to use the restitution monies, which will be paid over a four-year period, to support research and other efforts to preserve the Nations freshwater mussel populations. "This Fund illustrates how the creative use of legal settlements can dramatically benefit fish and wildlife, and their habitats," said Whitney Tilt, Director of Conservation for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. "By maximizing partnerships and leveraging funds, we can do a lot more for Americas freshwater mussels and the rivers where they live."
The first six projects financed by the fund include two efforts that will propagate healthy juvenile mussels for research and restocking programs. A third project will produce a web-based, searchable, bibliographic database on North Americas freshwater mussels, a much-needed reference for the research community.
Three projects focus specifically on improving law enforcement efforts to protect mussel resources from illegal trade. Researchers will study the use of trace metal profiles to identify where shells were collected, an analysis that could help enforcement officers determine whether mussels were legally harvested.
Organizations conducting the Fund-sponsored projects include Virginia Tech, the University of Tennessee at Martin, and the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences; state natural resource agencies in Wisconsin, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The first round of mussel conservation projects were selected from 63 proposals submitted to the Foundation. Members of the Services Ohio River Ecosystem Team, which covers the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee, evaluated and ranked the proposals based upon expected benefits to freshwater mussel species.
"We reviewed many proposals, and, if we had the funding, we would have approved them all," said Ecosystem Team Leader Debbie Mignogno. "Freshwater mussels help keep our waterways healthy; in return, we need to ensure their survival. These projects will advance mussel recovery efforts.
Freshwater mussels are important indicators of the health of Americas waterways and their ecosystems. As mussels feed and breathe, they filter and clean large quantities of water and absorb any toxic metals into their shells. Biologists are able to examine the shells to find out what contaminants are present in the water. In addition, mussels strengthen the health and stability of streams. Other animals such as otters, wading birds, and game fish depend on mussels for food.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 520 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats on which they depend. Among its goals are species conservation, habitat protection, environmental education, natural resources management, habitat and ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration, and leadership training for conservation professionals.
