They Lose, We Lose Freshwater mussels have played a long and varied role in people's lives. Native Americans used them for food, tools, and jewelry. From about 1890 until the invention of plastics around 1950, mussel shells supported this country's button industry. More recently, the world's cultured pearl industry relies on implant beads made from the superior shells of North American mussels. In states where mussel collecting is legal, harvesting provides jobs and income to residents along rivers.
Mussels have other values more difficult to measure.
In the rivers and lakes where they live, their filtering ability makes them natural water purifiers. They play an important role in the aquatic food chain as a food source for wildlife including muskrats and otters. They also can tell us something about the health of the environment on which we both depend. Mussels respond to changes in water quality. Gradual mussel die-offs or sudden mussel kills are reliable indicators of water pollution problems and other environmental health concerns.