Freshwater Pearl Mussel Data

NPWS has created and maintains a Margaritifera GeoDatabase and this is periodically circulated to Irish public authorities.  It currently contains the following shapefiles (or feature classes):

1. Margaritifera_sensitive_areas_year_version# and associated labels (these polygons show the catchments of the known extant populations and are available here)
2. Margaritifera_Catchments_year_version# (a subset of 1. showing the catchments of the SAC populations)
3. FPM_Habitat_Classification_year_version# (a polyline mapping the extent of freshwater pearl mussel habitat in the SAC catchments)
4. Margaritifera_records_year_version# (a point file illustrating positive records of the species.  As with all such records, these represent points in space and time and cannot be interpreted as the current or historical distribution of the species).

The GeoDatabase is not provided in its entirety to the public, but data for specific catchments and sub-catchments can be requested via the NPWS data request form.