Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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214. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will list all research carried out by or on behalf of National Parks and Wildlife Service on the causes of the decline of the freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10839/14]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The freshwater pearl mussel is critically endangered in Ireland and across Europe. It is listed in Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive and requires the designation of Special Areas of Conservation for its protection. The factors contributing to its decline are well understood and as such did not require further research funded by my Department in the last 10 years. However my Department, and other Departments before it, have funded and/or contributed to surveys and reports on mussel populations in key rivers in order to gain a clear picture of the status of the mussel. There is grave concern about the lack of survival of juvenile mussels in most rivers, due to their particular sensitivity to pollution and siltation. A list is being forwarded directly to the Deputy of these studies which encompass (i) population monitoring required under Article 17 of the directive, (ii) river basin management planning and (iii) captive breeding trials (for the Nore mussel). These studies help to inform how best challenges might be addressed in collaboration with key stakeholders.

The species’ current poor conservation status and severe decline is considered to be due to activities in or adjacent to watercourses causing a quality of water that does not meet the exacting requirements of the species. The sediment and nutrients that enter mussel rivers and cause its decline can come from a combination and wide variety of sources (e.g. urban wastewater, development activities, farming and forestry), often quite removed from the location of the species or widespread in the catchment of the river. The species can also suffer direct impacts from in-stream works such as channelisation, bridge-construction and recreational fishery structures.