Action Plans for Freshwater Fish and Freshwater Pearl Mussel

Fish are an important factor in our freshwater habitats and contribute greatly to our economy through both fishing for leisure and commercial fishing including inland fisheries. Lough Neagh and Lough Erne hold the largest population of pollan in Europe and it is therefore a NI priority species with a published All-Ireland action plan.

There are a mere 11 freshwater native fish species, but several coarse fish species have been introduced. Artic Charr is a NI priority species only found in Lough Melvin.

Read the NI species action plan for Artic Char (.PDF 84Kb) .and the All-Ireland species action plan for Pollan (.PDF 86Kb).

Only three substantial populations of the Freshwater Pearl Mussel remain in NI, in the Cladagh (Swanlinbar), Owenkillew River and Upper Ballinderry Rivers. One of these has recently suffered a 55% decline and the Freshwater Pearl Mussel is endangered and in severe decline throughout its range in Europe requiring a NI species action plan (.PDF 72Kb).

Pearl mussels produce free-swimming larvae which must find the gills of a young salmonid fish within a short time during the summer breeding season. They encyst in the gills of the young fish and are carried around until the following spring when they hatch and fall to the bottom of the river to start life as a mussel. Apart from this bizarre start to life mussels sit unmoving in sand and gravel beds on the bottom of streams for up to 50 years filtering microscopic plants from the water as food.