[Caitlin]

From the Iowa Radio News

By O.Kay Henderson
A University of Iowa engineer is trying to help an endangered species survive in the Mississippi River. Earlier this week, five-thousand freshwater mussels that were raised in Minnesota were released into the Mississippi River at Fairport, which is near Muscatine. U-of-I researcher Tatsuaki Nakato says freshwater mussels consume the contaminants in water, so they help clean up the river.
"They are invisible, but work very hard," he says. The greatest danger to freshwater mussels is the zebra mussel. Nakota says there's now a small field of electric current running through the Mississippi, trying to keep the zebra mussels away from the area where these young freshwater mussels were placed.
"So that they will not migrate or drift downstream," Nakato says. Freshwater mussels were nearly wiped out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by a booming demand for buttons and pearls, then the few left were being displaced by the prolific zebra mussels. The freshwater mussels that were placed in the Mississippi earlier this week are about three years old.
"They raised them under controlled conditions," Nakato says. The "juvenile" mussels were released in an area about 10 feet away from shore, hoping they'd avoid other predators like raccoons and muskrats. The mussels released Tuesday are known as "Higgins Eye" pearly mussels and they're living in an area of the Mississippi that's near a University of Iowa research site and a Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Management Office.

[GemGeek]

Thanks Caitlin for sharing the story. I'll keep my fingers crossed for those mussels. I hope they are so successful that the test becomes a widspread project.

Cheers,
Blaire

[Slraep]

I'm saying a prayer for the little critters, Caitlin. Hope very much that they survive. Would feel great to triumph and regain some ecological balance, no matter how big or small.

Slraep

[jerin]

Caitlin,

I second the good wishes for the small ones. May they live for a long time.

[Valeria101]

Nice to hear of conservation efforts of any kind.... Sad to imagine that most are a loosing battle: how could they re-establish a species that depends on a man-made electric barrier to survive? Maybe there's more about the long term perspective then the article implies (the topic is not even touched). Maybe the guys involved just do not know, and this protected population is an experiment...

If you would know for sure that such reintroduction will NOT be viable without heavy human support throughout an indefinitely long period... would that make you think twice?

[pernula]

I do hope the re-introduction of the native species would be successful. Because the ecosystem was heavily "disturbed" or shifted from its original, it is understandable that initially more protective actions are needed.

Pernula

[Valeria101]

Originally Posted by pernula

Because the ecosystem was heavily "disturbed" or shifted from its original, it is understandable that initially more protective actions are needed.

Pernula

Sure. Hope that such initial protection is enough and they do manage to establish a viable population. This doesn't seem to be always a concern, and it isn't humans that end up harmed from the 'trial and error'.... It would have been the first question to ask the project team in an interview

[knotty panda]

Originally Posted by Valeria101

[H]ow could they re-establish a species that depends on a man-made electric barrier to survive?

The mussels have to be protected or its a given they will die. No question. The non-indigenous zebra mussels, as the article talks about, are so prolific, they are choking all the waterways and the indigenious mussels will succumb if not given any protection.

The zebras were brought in to the Great Lakes in the 80s and have rapidly moved thousands of miles downstream and up into Canada. As I understand it, there's just no way to stop these guys right now.

But the zebras aren't entirely bad guys, though. They are scavengers and are attributed with cleaning some of these waterways of algae, etc., allowing more sunlight to filter into the waterways, good for fish. So, it's a double-edged sword.

The bigger concern as far as this forum is concerned, I believe, is what lies downstream and with the rapid advance of the zebras, how much time is there before the Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake pearl farms are affected?