I was thinking about putting this in the Ponds forum, but since it applies more to running
water and lakes, and there's no aquaculture subforum I figured I'd just go for the general header!
I've been doing some research into how New Englanders raise oysters, clams, and scallops on the coastline, and wondered if anyone here has any
experience or knows of any resources in regards to raising freshwater mussels. They are generally considered inedible by seafood standards for humans, but from my own childhood experiences the rest of the animal kingdom has no such compunctions when scarfing them down.
In ideal conditions they can reproduce in large, resilient populations, and they make for excellent fishbait, their shells provide valuable calcium to plants and poultry, and perhaps they could even be buried at the base of Three Sisters mounds in the place of menhaden. But most significantly, they
feed by filtering freshwater, and they could be used to deal with algal blooms, livestock manure, all kinds of biomatter that makes the water murky or an undesirable place to water livestock or take a swim. Or this, at least, is my assumption.
And I figure they could also make a valuable addition to a fishpond ecosystem, alongside introduced carp, bluegills, and crayfish! If returned to a
local stream, you might even convince otters or mink to return.
How now, Permies, what say you?!