What are Freshwater Mussels Worth?

Abstract

Historically, little thought was given to the value of freshwater mussels when making decisions that affected these animals and their habitats, even though these values may be considerable, and may be greatly changed by environmental alterations. Here, I review several kinds of values provided by freshwater mussels. Direct-use (market) values of mussels were substantial when the mussels were harvested to provide buttons and pearls, amounting to about $10 billion (2017 dollars) in the USA alone. Current harvests are much smaller but still valuable. Mussels also provide indirect-use value through the ecosystem functions that they provide (water clarification, nutrient cycling, pathogen suppression, etc.). The monetary value of these functions may be substantial, but has not yet been estimated. As interesting, rare creatures, freshwater mussels may also have existence value to society. This value probably is small at present, but could be increased greatly through outreach and education, as could their option and bequest values (the value of saving them for the future). The total value of a freshwater mussel community would be the sum of direct use, indirect use, existence, option, and bequest values, and has not yet been estimated for any real mussel community. Alternatively, one could calculate the replacement value of freshwater mussels (the cost of replacing a mussel community that was damaged or destroyed); procedures for estimating replacement costs have been published. Despite uncertainty about the precise value of freshwater mussels, it is clear that they have substantial value to humans, possibly many millions of dollars in individual ecosystems, which should be taken into account in environmental decision making. Mussel ecologists and biologists can play important roles in helping society better value freshwater mussels.

Research priorities for freshwater mussel conservation assessment

“…The development of conservation strategies for freshwater mussels faces many challenges, including the selection of priority species and populations for conservation, strategic decisions about habitat restoration, captive propagation, and stakeholder and general public involvement (Geist, 2010;Strayer, 2017).…”

“…In addition, collaborative efforts will help to harness public interest and knowledge. Similarly, new information and communication technologies provide methods to improve popular discourse and knowledge portrayed in mass and social media about the importance of freshwater mussels (i.e., providing ecosystem services; Vaughn, 2018), thereby increasing social awareness of their values (Strayer, 2017). Certainly, closer cooperation between scientists is needed (e.g., the Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society, U.S.A.), as well as initiatives such as adopting international standards for monitoring freshwater mussels (e.g., the M. margaritifera CEN Standard; British Standards Institution, 2017).…”

Trophic niche overlap between native freshwater mussels (Order: Unionida) and the invasive Corbicula fluminea

“…Several efforts to develop conservation strategies for native freshwater mussels have prioritized species and populations to preserve (Geist, 2010;Strayer, 2017). Two of the native species studied here have poor conservation status: P. littoralis is categorized as Endangered and U. delphinus as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2017).…”

Understanding the influence of multiple pollutant stressors on the decline of freshwater mussels in a biodiversity hotspot

“…Our results suggest that freshwater mussel populations in this biodiversity hotspot will continue to decline if ongoing and legacy pollution is not addressed, especially for fossil-fuel associated contaminants. Undoubtedly, the ecosystem services that mussels provide (Strayer, 2017;Vaughn, 2018;Archambault et al, 2018) have been substantially reduced in the Clinch River ZOD by the population declines that have been documented thus far (Jones et al, 2018;Archambault, 2020). For example, at just Pendleton Island alone >1 million mussels have been lost since 1979, representing a cumulative loss of millions of mussel service years (Jones et al, 2018).…”