Freshwater pearl mussels

Graces7

This is upsetting.

Last week a neighbour farmer who owns land opposite the house illegally sprayed slurry up here. He has never done this before as that land is between the river and our well.

I called EPA and the council came within 48 hours and sure enough he had sprayed only 17 metres from the well.
They were not concerned re the river as they say the buffer zone there is 5 metres.
He has land on each side of the river, which slopes steeply and sprayed slurry on both sides.

Then someone told me that this farmer has applied for an E7000 grant as there are freshwater mussels in that river and he has agreed to stop spraying slurry there. But he already has and with the deluges the last days the river will be full of nitrates etc.

I have notified the council. No reply so far.

I googled the mussels and they are so endangered and so fragile.

Not sure you see if that 5 metres would be valid for that need or if that is only for rivers that do not feed into a water supply etc.
Any thoughts welcomed.

Thank you..

mecksimay

You need to contact your local NPWS office, see www.npws.ie Freshwater pearl mussels are protected under the EU Habitats Directive and the river may be an SAC.

Graces7

mecksimay wrote: »

You need to contact your local NPWS office, see www.npws.ie Freshwater pearl mussels are protected under the EU Habitats Directive and the river may be an SAC.

Thanks for this. I know someone here who is in that dept and was waitng for him to come back off holiday.

Will email them now..Although I think it will be too late at least he will hopefully not get the grant.

That is an amazing site; thank you

Graces7

I had an almost immediate reply and they are passing it on to the local rangers who I do know slightly DAHG

Delighted so many thanks.

I was chatting to my landlord also and he lives not far away; the mussels are in many local streams which makes it vital there is no pollution. He lives near one stream where they are

Graces7

saw the ranger up here briefly saturday so hopefully something will sort now. what irks is that all the local farmers knew what was going on and no one would reprt it as they seem scared of this man. has taken a 70 yr old disabled incomer to start sorting it.

scuse typing. broke a wrist saturday..been in hospital and not happy

the lane, private, i live on has been so damaged by the man the ambulance could barely get in so feathers are going to fly

ah well, nice to listen to the birds singing!

mecksimay

Thanks for the update Graces7. Sorry to hear about your injury and hopefully you will have a speedy recovery. I'm delighted to hear the the Ranger has been out to visit the site. Unfortunately what you have described regarding the fear people have in reporting their neighbours is all too common in the Irish countryside.

Thank you again for your efforts.

Graces7

the plot as they say, thickens

the slurry man roars up the lane on his big tractor laden with large numbers of sacks of nitrates which unless he is stopped will be spread on the river fields tomorrow.

when i open my email to contact the relevant authorities it is to find a mail from the environmental folk at the council. they are taing an enforcement against him for slurry too near the house and will come to test the water.

previously when something has gone against him this man will retaliate by acting like this. he has no intention of abiding by any laws.

cares re no one and nothing.

so i have contacted the relevant authorities

poor mussels

he is clearly not well

Mad4simmental

Graces7 wrote: »

the plot as they say, thickens

the slurry man roars up the lane on his big tractor laden with large numbers of sacks of nitrates which unless he is stopped will be spread on the river fields tomorrow.

when i open my email to contact the relevant authorities it is to find a mail from the environmental folk at the council. they are taing an enforcement against him for slurry too near the house and will come to test the water.

previously when something has gone against him this man will retaliate by acting like this. he has no intention of abiding by any laws.

cares re no one and nothing.

so i have contacted the relevant authorities

poor mussels

he is clearly not well

You can spread in fields near rivers and wells ect. There are however minimum distances to stay away from such streams and wells. Of the top of my head I think it's 8 or 10 meters I could be wrong. Check the Ifa website you might find sum thing there.
Remember farmers have to adhere to certen dates ect to spread now, whitch is sorta madness. Take last November when the conditions was perfect, not allowed to spread. Allowed to spread this time of year and the weather is crap.
As long as he is not spreading in heavy rain he is probably not doing any harm.

Graces7

Mad4simmental wrote: »

You can spread in fields near rivers and wells ect. There are however minimum distances to stay away from such streams and wells. Of the top of my head I think it's 8 or 10 meters I could be wrong. Check the Ifa website you might find sum thing there.
Remember farmers have to adhere to certen dates ect to spread now, whitch is sorta madness. Take last November when the conditions was perfect, not allowed to spread. Allowed to spread this time of year and the weather is crap.
As long as he is not spreading in heavy rain he is probably not doing any harm.

not as simple as this and we know the laws very well, trust us.

normally it is 5 metres but the eu mussel protection directive makes a difference here. all the local farmers here are getting big grants not to spray in the fields along this particular river. him included...google freshwater mussels please.

from wells it is 25 metres and he breached that and hence the enforcement order now. the council decided that and will test the water here now

so we shall see now what the epa and ranger say


uh oh; here he comes...

Mad4simmental

Graces7 wrote: »

not as simple as this and we know the laws very well, trust us.

normally it is 5 metres but the eu mussel protection directive makes a difference here. all the local farmers here are getting big grants not to spray in the fields along this particular river. him included...google freshwater mussels please.

from wells it is 25 metres and he breached that and hence the enforcement order now. the council decided that and will test the water here now

so we shall see now what the epa and ranger say


uh oh; here he comes...

I'm not disagreeing with you atall don't get me wrong. If he has broke the rules then he/she must pay the price. But do you know for sure he signed up for the grant? All the land he may have might be near that river so that dosnt leave him with many options. He may not have signed up to the grant as exporting the slurry to another farm may cost allot more than the grant is worth.
Anyway let us know how you go, there are good and bad in every industry, hopefully no harm was done.

Graces7

Mad4simmental wrote: »

I'm not disagreeing with you atall don't get me wrong. If he has broke the rules then he/she must pay the price. But do you know for sure he signed up for the grant? All the land he may have might be near that river so that dosnt leave him with many options. He may not have signed up to the grant as exporting the slurry to another farm may cost allot more than the grant is worth.
Anyway let us know how you go, there are good and bad in every industry, hopefully no harm was done.

all facts are totally accurate; would never act unless this was so. period.. sources impeccable
nb the protection of the mussels is an eu directive and non negotiable.

all is in the right hands now, and yes, bad indeed. he has a track record of great length and colour :rolleyes:

so we rest in the law now thankfully.

these endangered species are precious beyond price. seems shellfish have less appeal than fur or feathers maybe.

Half-cocked

To change the subject slightly, I remember hearing that another threat to freshwater mussels was people hunting for pearls. Apparently there were groups of pearl hunters coming over from Scotland and devastating whole beds of mussels. Has anyone heard of this? Is it actually true?

Graces7

Half-cocked wrote: »

To change the subject slightly, I remember hearing that another threat to freshwater mussels was people hunting for pearls. Apparently there were groups of pearl hunters coming over from Scotland and devastating whole beds of mussels. Has anyone heard of this? Is it actually true?[/QUOTE

words fail and i hope this farmer does not get tha t idea into his head