On 20–21 October 2026, the kick-off conference and accompanying programme for the Interreg Globalmus project took place in the village of Falkenberg, near the picturesque castle of the same name. The first day was devoted to presentations on various aspects of the conservation of large bivalves and fish communities. Representing our faculty, Martin Bláha gave a presentation on the monitoring of ichthyofauna in the Blanice river catchment (one of the last remaining sites where the freshwater pearl mussel is found in the Czech Republic), whilst Miloš Buřič spoke on the monitoring of the signal crayfish population in the Waldnaab stream in Bavaria. Here, the freshwater pearl mussel still occurs in greater numbers and has a more favourable food supply compared with most sites in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, its host, the brown trout – which is essential for its reproduction – is in decline here, presumably due to rising summer water temperatures. Colleagues from BIVALVIA and the Institute of Parasitology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (both project partners), as well as from the Vltava River Basin Authority, also presented their work. On the second day, an excursion took place to sites in the Waldnaab river catchment – the Waldnaab itself, the Frombach and the Grenzbach streams – which are the focus of conservation measures for the freshwater pearl mussel and where the main project activities are also taking place. The excursion was finished at the museum of pearl and mother-of-pearl production and processing in the town of Adorf. We would like to thank the organising team from our project partner, Steinwald Nature Park, for the enjoyable time spent in the castle grounds and out in the field.
