Kerry LIFE: strengthening the mussel population

One quarter of all European mussels can be found in Ireland, their populations have declined in the last century and the species is of poor conservation status throughout Ireland. The key part of KerryLIFE is connectivity between the land and the river, its emphasis being on water quality.

Farming in both catchments is predominantly rough grazing of sucklers, beef and sheep. As it is a very marginal agricultural landscape, the average herd size is 30 cattle. In comparison with the national average farms in the area are larger in land area but have lower stocking densities. Still in its very early stages the project, which covers a 22,150ha catchment, has identified three pressures that have caused the decline of pearl mussel population:

The suggested reasons for these are intensification of land drainage, inappropriate grazing and livestock management, excessive nutrient applications, livestock access to freshwater pearl mussel habitat and inappropriate clear felling of trees. “There has been a gradual change over time where agriculture has been intensified in some areas and extensified in others,” said Richard O’Callaghan, project manager of KerryLIFE. “Drainage can be done very fast now through mechanisation. This has led to a concentration of farming intensity near the main river channels. This project will try addressing this at a catchment level.”

An important aspect is minimising the amount of nutrients and sediment getting into the river by looking at fertiliser and slurry usage.

“There have also been increased levels of nutrients getting into the river. We will be asking farmers to create a nutrient management plan that makes sure what is going out on to green land is balanced,” O’Callaghan says.

An overall sustainable farm management plan will be used on each of the 50 project farms that will include a nutrient plan as well as works such as planting trees that would stabilise river banks and help drainage.

Out of the 290 farmers in the area, 120 expressed an interest in joining this €5m LIFE project that is being co-financed by Europe, the Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, Coillte, Teagasc, the South Kerry Development Partnership Ltd and Pobal. While it had initially planned to include just 25 farmers, the large level of interest meant that figure was doubled. Farm plans will be implemented on participating farms covering approximately 5,250ha, while forest management plans will cover 515ha.

“We will be starting plans in the next three months on all participating farms and farmers will be paid for works carried out,” says O’Callaghan. “Plans will be finalised on a phased basis and it will cover both farming and forestry.”

The project will trial and demonstrate funded conservation practices such as drainage management, stabilising riverbanks through broadleaf tree planting, livestock management and the restructuring of commercial forests.

A third catchment joins the KerryLIFE project area which O’Callaghan envisages could become part of an established LLAES that would be created using the results of the work they are doing now.

“At the end of the project, the outcomes will feed into a Locally Led Agri Environmental Scheme (LLAES),” said O’Callaghan. “Key stakeholders will be able to look keenly at what we’re learning and can be targeted at other catchment areas.”

The project team is made up of three full-time staff, one part-time and a PhD Walsh Fellow. Public awareness is a large part of the project and as part of reaching out to the wider community, the team has an educational programme for schools and is developing walking trails in the area with an “outreach promotional slant on it.” The project will also be exploring the creation of a conservation grade farm produce brand.

Karen O’Neill is a PhD Walsh Fellow studying the effects of soil erosion on the habitats of the pearl mussel. Her family farm is one of the farms taking part in the KerryLIFE trial.

“My project is based on looking at how the sediment or soil eroding from agricultural land is affecting the pearl mussel,” says O’Neill, who is based in Johnstown Castle. “The juvenile pearl mussel is affected by soil erosion from land because it clogs up their habitat, which is fatal because of the oxygen depletion.”

Listen to an interview with Karen O'Neill in our podcast below:

The project is in three parts. The first is using turbidity meters to measure how much sediment is coming out of the catchments per year. The second part is sediment fingerprinting where sediment is collected from rivers and land and then uses lab analysis to match them, showing how much sediment is coming from agriculture and forestry and other uses. The final part of the project examines the pearl mussel habitat, looking at how much sediment is being deposited there, the seasonal variation and ways of reducing that. Overall, the aim is to reduce the amount of sediment in mussel habitats.

“The pearl mussel is an indicator of good health of a habitat and if the freshwater pearl mussel is declining, as it is all over Ireland, it is a sign that our once clean habitats are becoming less clean and I think that’s something that concerns everyone, not just farmers,” O’Neill says.