Mussels impounded at Keithelmanbi
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 18 2015: A combined team of PFA Manipur volunteers and Imphal West district police seized 60 bags of live hard shelled river mussels (Kongreng) from Keithelmanbi yesterday.

The mussels were brought from Cachar district of Assam, said a PFA statement.

Mussels are taken as delicacies in Manipur but consumption and mass trading of it must be checked, said the statement.

Mussels play a significant role in maintaining good ecosystem by cleaning the water of rivers and other water bodies.

Their filter feeding process automatically filter water, said the statement and added that they suck water and pump it out through other pores filtering micro-organisms, sand, dust and other pollutants.

One adult mussel filters about 4 litres of water in an hour.

The approximate number of mussels which were seized yesterday was about one lakh and these mussels could filter about 80 million litres of water a day.

Most of the rivers in Manipur do not have mussels now due to over harvesting and pollution.

To meet the increasing demands of public, traders import mussels from neighbouring States.

A jute bag of mussels costs about Rs 600 to 700 when it reaches Imphal, the statement said and added that the mussels were collected from Icha river of Cachar.

Saying that thousands of mussels are caught from the river everyday, the statement said that this practice would definitely give an adverse impact to the environment.

It added that mussels are categorised as 'endangered' in the red list of threatened species of IUCN.

PFA urged the general public to stop mass trading of mussels.

For consumption, mussels can be produced in farms like in other Southeast Asian countries.

Rescued mussels would be released at suitable water bodies with the advice of CWW, the statement said and added that steps would be taken up to protect mussels.

Comment