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Mussels
Brought to you by:
Melanie Kuzyk, Patrick Waring, and Scott Hanson
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2601972/Leaked-video-sheds-light-Jean-Claude-Van-Damme-ditched-Arnies-80s-hit-Predator-dodgy-monster-suit.html
Outline and Intros
● Introduction to invertebrate fisheries
● Summary of freshwater mussel exploitation
■
■
Different industries
Major lessons
● Critique of paper and issue
● Take-aways
● Discussion
Invertebrate Fisheries
(Anderson et al. 2011, Eddy et al. 2014))
-
Crustaceans, clams, oysters, mussels, sea cucumber, sea urchin,
geoduck, scallops, euphausiids
- Organisms range in size
- Freshwater vs marine
- Benthic
-
Relatively slow-growing; long-lived
-
Not a lot of focus on invert fisheries
-
Rapid global expansion - cause for concern
Source:
http://www.oceansadvance.net/sites/default/files/images/shrimp.preview.jpg
Invertebrate Fisheries
Year
Anderson et al. 2011
Invertebrate Fisheries
Anderson et al. 2011
Canadian Crab Fishery
● British Columbia’s commercial crab fishery accounts for
27% of the wholesale value of the province’s wild
shellfish products
● On average the commercial crab fleet landed $35.8M
per year from 2008 to 2013
● 221 license eligibilities divided into seven management
areas
Source: Integrated Fisheries Management Plan Summary
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/mplans/2015/crab-crabe-sm-2015-eng.pdf
Source: Integrated Fisheries Management Plan Summary
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/mplans/2015/crab-crabe-sm-2015-eng.pdf
Source: Integrated Fisheries Management Plan Summary
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/mplans/2015/crab-crabe-sm-2015-eng.pdf
Pacific Oyster
● Commercial licences are responsible for
arranging assessment and in-season fishery
monitoring services.
● Coastwide commercial total allowable catch
(TAC) for 2015 is 808,590 lbs
● 55 total licenses
Source: Integrated Fisheries Management Plan Summary
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/mplans/2015/oyster-huitre-sm-2015eng.pdf
Source: Integrated Fisheries Management Plan Summary
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/mplans/2015/oyster-huitre-sm-2015eng.pdf
Freshwater Mussels
Exploitation trajectory of a declining fauna:
A century of freshwater mussel fisheries in North America
James L. Anthony and John A. Downing
2001
Freshwater Mussels
(Zipper et al. 2014)
- Unionoida
- Freshwater bivalve
molluscs
- Sedimentary; lakes and rivers
- Filter feeders
- Unique and complex life cycle
Source:
Source: http://fishwild.vt.edu/mussel/images/life_history/Colorized-Musselcycle_LG.gif
Mussel Life Cycle
Source: http://www.ucforlife.se/wp-content/gallery/e-fishing-initial-infestation-experiment_1/5_anodonta-glochidia-on-
Freshwater Mussels
Freshwater Mussels
- Historically, almost 300 species in N. America
- Mid-west US, South-east US (Anthony and Downing 2001)
- 72% of populations in decline, or worse
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
- Especially vulnerable to changes in habitat (Haag 2009)
Aims of Paper
“ Market factors have driven commercial harvests while the life history and ecology of
mussels have been largely ignored.” – Anthony and Downing (2001)
- Examine broad time frame
- Valuable lessons on fishery collapse
- Compiled commercial harvest statistics
- Yield estimates, commercial value, markets trends,
regulatory framework
Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_River
Pearl Harvesting Era
1850 - 1900
Source:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/mussel/images/clammers.jpg
Pearl Harvesting Era
(Anthony and Downing, 2001)
Late 19th century
- fueled by demand
Pearl rush profits > other important US industries
Regulated by boom-and-bust trends = unsustainable
By 1860
- extensive harvesting occurring in at least 12 states
Source: http://www.museum.state.il.us/RiverWeb/harvesting/archives/images/roll9/ba04_450p.jpg
Pearl Harvesting Era
(Anthony and Downing, 2001)
Mid to late 1800s
- 13 species harvest extensively
Inefficient harvesting methods
Rarity drove value up
- even more desirable
Source: http://www.oftimeandtheriver.org/resources/secondaryimpacts/images/MusselCamp.jpg
Pearl Harvesting Era
(Anthony and Downing, 2001)
Conservation concerns voiced - no actions taken
By the early 20th C, North American mussel populations
declined due to unsustainable harvesting practices
- Urged states to enact protective legislation (Kunz 1893)
Mussel
Buttons
Source: http://busaff.com/movie-quotes/curious-case-of-benjamin-button-quotes/
Source: http://www.oftimeandtheriver.org/resources/secondaryimpacts/images/MusselCamp.jpg
Source: http://tennesseeshelldivers.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/9/5/23958470/6757569_orig.jpg
American manufacturers had begun to
produce buttons from the shells of marine
mollusks
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Johann Frederic Böpple
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
3,180 tonnes of shells
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
http://squishable.ca/squishable-blue-whale.html
3,306 tonnes were harvested
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
http://squishable.ca/squishable-blue-whale.html
- 21,628 tonnes of mussel shells
- $23,000,000
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
http://squishable.ca/squishable-blue-whale.html
Source: http://www.science.calwater.ca.gov/images/scinews_0410_brain_01.j
Japanese button manufacturers entered the
American button market
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Fairport Biological Station of the U.S. Bureau
of Fisheries was established to answer
concerns about depleting mussel stocks
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Minnesota and Illinois adopted
protective regulations
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
The industry’s peak production year, the U.S. produced over
5.75 billion buttons valued at over $175 000 000
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Wisconsin and Iowa adopt similar
restrictions including restrictions
on size, means of capture, and
licensing fees
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Some recovery noted in populations
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Ruh roh
Williams et al. 1993
Cultured-Pearl Industry
How Is a Pearl Made?
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-53775/Some-irritant-such-asa-grain-of-sand-gets-into
How Is a Cultured Pearl Made?
http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/martial-artsmasters/fumio-demura/shito-ryu-karate-trailblazer-fumio-
http://www.imperialpearl.com/imperial/Pearl-education/Tahitian-CulturedPearls.asp
Beginning of Pearl Nuclei Demand
-US Shell Exports
increase
-Upwards of 10% of
freshwater mussel
industry (Claasen 1994)
1960
Fusconaia and
Pleurobema spp.
regarded as best
nuclei substrate
in the world (Claasen
1994)
1962
- Musselers on the
Tennessee River
expect around
180kg of mussels
per day
1965
- Tennessee
river supply
exhausted
- Wabash
River peak
harvests at
900t/annum
1968
- US shell
exports
exceed
22,000t
annually
1970 - 1980
- Mass die-offs
noted in the upper
mississippi (upper
and lower),
Tennessee,
Wabash
- Numerous streams
at exhaustion and
collapse levels
(Anderson et al. 1993)
1970 - 1980
- Lack of supply for Fusconaia and
Pleurobema spp
- Megalonaias nervosa becomes new species
of choice (Fassler 1994)
1980 - 1990
Mussel Catch
1990 - 2000
Year
2000 - Present day
Cultured-pearl nuclei industry by far the
dominant driver of freshwater mussel industry
in US (Nagai 2013)
- Cultured Pearls make up 90% of pearl sales
worldwide (Southgate and Lucas 2011)
-
Lessons (Anthony and Downing, 2001)
1. Short-term economic decisions can impede long-term
resource sustainability
2. Basic biology and ecology sets the upper limits for harvest
intensity
- Historical mussel declines largely due to sedimentation,
toxins (Ortman 1918)
Lessons (Anthony and Downing, 2001)
3. Loss of exploited populations depends on the rate of harvest
relative to the rate of production
(Anthony and Downing 2001)
Lessons
(Anthony and Downing, 2001)
4. Delays in resource management and regulation may be
dangerous to resource viability
Watch out or
imma over
exploit this tree
num num num
Source:
http://www.knt.co.jp/ec/2011/icft/plenary_lectures.htm
Lessons (Anthony and Downing, 2001)
5. Declining economic viability does not predict future
resource uses
NO ONE CAN
TELL THE
FUTURE!!!!!!!
Source: http://profiles.forestry.ubc.ca/person/scott-hinch/
Lessons (Anthony and Downing, 2001)
6. Poor resource management favors competitors
If you’re not
first you’re
last
Source: http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/facilities-installations/pbs-sbp/mgl-lgm/geno/collab/index-eng.html
Lessons (Anthony and Downing, 2001)
7. Overexploited
resource yields show
unpredictable
behaviours
Year
Lessons
(Anthony and Downing, 2001)
8. Intensive harvest of
overexploited resources
degrades population
renewal potential
Recruitment
overfishing!
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3L8Eok8PyjY/TbGEVIrJiKI/AAAAAAAAq7A/1Yas-fZQfwc/s320/%257Eshinch.jpg
Lessons
(Anthony and Downing, 2001)
Fishing down
the ladder
right guys?
9. Intensive
harvest can lead to
progressive
reductions in
biodiversity
http://news.ubc.ca/2009/02/05/archive-ubcreports-2009-09feb05-genomics/
Critiques
Historical stats not always reliable
- Stats based on marketable products - not bycatch
- License holders only recently obligated to report yields
- Mussel harvesting before the 1800s (Haag 2009)
Critiques
- Claim historical “regulatory vacuum” (Anthony et al.
2001)
-
Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society (est.1992)
-
Academic alarms (Williams et al. 1993, Cope and
Waller 1995)
Critiques
- Barely address associated impacts of habitat
degradation (pollution, siltation, channelization,
impoundment, dredging, dams)
- Hybridization
- Invasive species (Zebra Mussel, Asian Clam)
Critiques
- Impacts of dams on Mussel populations (Watters
1996)
-
Channelization (Williams et al. 1993)
Dredging (Williams et al. 1993)
Pollution (Bogan 1993)
Siltation (Augspurer et al. 2003)
Impoundment (Ricciardi 1998)
Hybridization (Williams et al. 1993)
Critiques - Invasive Species
- Zebra Mussel
-
Established 1991
Invasive or filling a niche?
(Strayer et al. 2004)
- Asian Clam
-
First introduced 1930s
Impact differs temporally
and geographically (Cherry et
al. 2005)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_mussel
Current Status
- Currently over
70% of freshwater
mussels species
in North America
are extinct or
imperiled (USFWS 2015)
Current Industry
- 18 American States currently exporting
freshwater shells
- Worth upwards of $13 Million USD/annum
- Chinese entrance into industry
Current Research
• Still no extinctions in Pacific Northwest or upper
Mississippi River basin (Haag 2009)
• Extinction debt (Haag 2009)
• Mussel research largely increasing since the 1990s
(Strayer et al. 2004)
• Gaps still exist, but conservation actions should not be
postponed (Strayer et al. 2004)
Current Research
• Restoration, relocation and re-introduction
(Carey et al. 2015)
• Hydroelectric Impacts
• Introduced spp.
(Johnson and Mhatre 2014)
(Haag 2012)
• Pollution Impacts (Price et al. 2014)
Current Research
Re-introduction
(Cope and Waller
2006)
Protected areas
(Saunders et al.
2002)
Protected species
status (USFWS
State to state (Carey et al. 2015)
http://funny-pictures.picphotos.net/wu-tang-clam/bite-prod.s3.amazonaws.com*wpcontent*uploads*2012*05*Wutang-Clam-05-NUTTIN.jpg/
How did this Happen?
“Don't stop thinking about
tomorrow
Don't stop, it'll soon be here
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone,
yesterday's gone” –
Fleetwood Mac, ‘Don’t
Stop’
ASK YOUR
QUESTIONS
Questions
Which lesson do you think is the mosty
important?
Can you find any parallels between the
overexploitation of freshwater mussels and a
current fisheries industry?
Questions
How will mussel extinction debt affect other
species?
Which industry, of the three presented, has had
the largest effect on freshwater mussels?
What do you think are barriers to the
conservation of freshwater mussels?
Questions
What aspects of freshwater mussels life history
could prove difficult in conservation attempts?
Did economic viability play a role in the
conservation of freshwater mussels?
How will increase in the Chinese economy
affect the mussel populations in the USA?
Questions
Has technology been beneficial or detrimental
to the conservation efforts of the freshwater
mussel?
References
Anderson, R.M., Stefanavage, T., and Flatt, T. 1993. Why did Indiana halt commercial mussel
harvest in 1991? In Conservation and management of freshwater mussels.
Proceedings of a UMRCC symposium, 12–14 October 1992, St. Louis, Mo. Edited by
K.S. Cummings, A.C. Buchanan, and L.M. Koch. Upper Mississippi River Conservation
Committee, Rock Island, Ill. pp. 19–24.
Anderson, S.C., J.M.Flemming, R. Watson, and H.K. Lotze. 2011. Rapid global expansion of
invertebrate fisheries: trends, drivers, and ecosystem effects. PLoS ONE 6: e14735
Anthony, J.L. and J.A. Downing. 2001. Exploitation trajectory of a declining fauna: a century of
freshwater mussel fisheries in North America. Canadian Jounral of Fisheries and
Aquatic Sciences 58: 2071-2090.
Augspurger, T., A.E. Keller, M.C. Black, W.G. Cope and F.J. Dwyer. 2003. Water quality
guidance for protection of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) from ammonia
exposure. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 22: 2569 – 2575.
Bogan, A.E. 1993. Freshwater Bivalve extinctions (Mollusca: Unionoida): A search for
causes. American Journal of Zoological Sciences 33: 599 – 609
More References
Bradsher, K. 2011. Pearls, finer but still cheap, flow from China. The New York Times.
Available online at: http://nyti.ms/1BBN9HV
Carey, C.S., J.W. Jones, R.S. Butler and E.M. Hallerman. 2015. Restoring the
endangered oyster mussel (Epioblasma capsaeformis) to the upper Clinch
River, Virginia: an evaluation of population restoration techniques. Restoration
Ecology 33: 1 – 8.
Cherry, D.S., J.L. Scheller, N.L. Cooper and J.R. Bidwell. 2005. Potential effects of
Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea) die-offs on native freshwater mussels
(Unionidae) I: water-column ammonia levels and ammonia toxicity. Journal of
the North American Benthological Society 24: 369 – 380.
Even More References
Claassen, C. 1994. Washboards, pigtoes, and muckets: historic musseling in the
Mississippi watershed. Historical Archaeology, 28: 1–145.
Cope, W.G. and D.L. Waller. 1995. Evaluation of freshwater mussel relocation as a
conservation and management strategy. Regulated Rivers: Research and
Management 11: 147 – 155.
Eddy, T.D., M. Coll, E.A. Fulton, H.K. Lotze. 2014. Trade-offs between invertebrate
fisheries catches and ecosystem ipacts on Coastal New Zealand. Fisheries
Centre Research Reports 22: 56-57.
Fassler, C.R. 1994. The American mussel crisis: effects on the world pearl industry. In
Conservation and management of freshwater mussels II. Proceedings of a
UMRCC symposium, 16–18 October 1995, St. Louis, Mo. Edited by K.S.
Cummings, A.C. Buchanan, C.A. Mayer, and T.J. Naimo. Upper Mississippi
River Conservation Committee, Rock Island, Ill. pp. 265–277.
MORE AND MORE REFERENCES
Fish and Wildlife Service, US Department of the Interior.
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/clams/mussels.html
Haag, W. 2009. Holocene extinctions in the sea. In: Holocene Extinction, S.T. Turvey
(ed.). Oxford University Press, New York.
Johnson, A and S. Mhatre. 2014. Water for electricity in the Upper Savannah Basin:
impacts on Freshwater Mussels. Graduate Research and Discovery
Symposium (GRADS). Paper 115.
Kunz, G.F. 1983. On the occurrence of pearls in the United States: shall we legislate to
preserve the fisheries? American Fisheries Society , New York: 33-34.
Nagai, K. 2013. A history of the cultured pearl industry. Zoological Science 10: 783 –
793.
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). 2007. Native Freshwater
Mussels. Fish and Wildlife Habitat Management Leaflet 47: 1 – 16.
SO MANY REFERENCES
Price, J.E., C.E. Zipper, J.W. Jones and C.T. Franck. 2014. Water and sediment quality
in the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennessee USA, over nearly five
decades. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 50: 837 –
858.
Ricciardi, A., R.J. Neves and J.B. Rasmussen. 1998. Impending extinctions of North
American freshwater mussels (Unionoida) following the zebra mussel
(Dreissena polymorpha) invasion.
Saunders, D.L., J.J. Meeuwig and A.C.J. Vincent. 2002. Freshwater protected areas:
Strategies for conservation. Conservation Biology 16: 30 – 41.
Strayer, D.L., J.A. Downing, W.R. Haag, T.L. King, J.B. Layzer, T.J. Newton, and S.J.
Nichols. 2004. Changing perspectives on pearly mussels, America’s most
imperiled animals. BioScience 54: 429-439.
Strayer, D.L., J.A. Downing, W.R. Haag, T.L. King, J.B. Layzer, T.J. Newton and J.S.
Nichols. 2004. Changing perspectives on pearly mussels, North America’s
most imperiled animals. BioScience 54: 429 – 439.
END OF REFERENCES
Watters, G.T. 1996. Small dams as barriers to freshwater mussels (Bivalvia, Unionoida)
and their hosts. Biological Conservation 75: 79 – 85.
Williams, J.D., M.L. Warren Jr, K.S. Cummings, J.L. Harris and R.J.
Neves. 1993. Conservation status of Freshwater Mussels of the United States
and Canada. Fisheries 18: 6 – 22
Zipper, C.E., B. Beaty, G.C. Johnson, J.W. Jones, J.L Krstolic, B.J.K. Ostby, W.J. Wolfe,
and P. Donovan. 2014. Freshwater mussel population status and habitat
quality in the Clinch River, Virginia and Tennesse, USA: a featured collection.
Journal of the American Water Resources Association 50: 807-819