Aquatic Conservation with Focus on Margaritifera margaritifera : Proceedings of the International Conference in Sundsvall, Sweden, 12-14 August, 2009

The freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera (L.) has attracted a large human interest, since the mussel is fascinating from biological, cultural andenvironmental perspectives. The mussel has a complicated life cycle dependingon host fish, and has great demands on its habitat. Furthermore, the mussel is anenvironmental indicator, and is used as an umbrella and flagship species. Pearl fishing has been described in Sweden as early as in the 16th century and by Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century. Many freshwater pearl mussel populations have insufficient recruitment and therefore decrease in numbers, and many populations are even extinct. Therefore, conservation work on the freshwater pearl mussel is going on all over Europe. Actions to preserve the freshwater pearl mussel will also favour other aquatic species – freshwater pearl mussel conservation is aquatic biodiversity conservation! WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Sweden implemented the project “The Freshwater Pearl Mussel and its habitats in Sweden” during 2004-2009 (LIFE04NAT/SE/000231). The overall objective was to improve the habitats of juvenile freshwater pearl mussels and the host fish brown trout Salmo trutta in21 streams. The actions were improvements of the biotopes, re-introduction of mussels, information to the stakeholders, and development of planning methods. An international conference “Aquatic Conservation with Focus on the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Margaritifera margaritifera” was held in Sundsvall 12–14 August, 2009. In these proceedings, presentations from the conference are published.“Aquatic Conservation with Focus on the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Margaritifera margaritifera” was held in Sundsvall 12–14 August, 2009