Meeting of the Parliament 08 November 2016
I thank Graeme Dey for securing the debate and Scottish Environment LINK for inviting me to follow in the footsteps of former Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon and be species champion for the freshwater pearl mussel. Once again, I must declare an interest—this time in a stretch of the River Dee where we have carried out work over many years to protect what is one of the most critically endangered molluscs in the world. Half of those that remain are found in the north-west of Scotland and the Cairngorms.
Normally such a debate would allow me to go straight to the good works that are being done by so many people—but not today. Just this weekend, a pile of 100 freshwater pearl mussels were found dead at Lochinver in the Highlands. It is a protected species, so that is outrageous and nothing short of conservation vandalism. The law is very clear, so how does that continue to happen? We in Scotland have an obligation to do all that we can to protect the species from extinction.
Despite their name, freshwater pearl mussels only very occasionally bear a pearl. That results in overexploitation by pearl fishers and mass population decline. Over the past century, they have been lost from more than a third of our rivers. It was therefore great to hear in 2013 about the discovery of an unexploited population of 500,000 mussels in “River X”. That will become the benchmark for the rest of Europe. It speaks to the seriousness of the problem that we have to make sure that the river remains nameless in order to avoid its being targeted by pearl fishers. It is vital that, as we leave the European Union, we can tailor new protection laws for our mussels.
There is good work, too. Just the other week, with the pearls in peril project, I joined the River Dee Trust, SNH, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and many volunteers to plant trees at the Invercauld estate. Tree planting not only helps flood-risk river catchments but reduces pollution and silt pouring into the river, which in turn encourages a healthier population of mussels.
The situation for freshwater pearl mussels may be dire, but they are not extinct yet. If members could get together to help to prevent poaching and to protect their habitat, we would save that humble mollusc for our benefit. It is a native species, and so is something that we must all champion.
17:35