An interesting article. However, I feel the discussion falls short of referencing some of the multiple studies that have shown that P. antipodarum can be very detrimental to recipient communities and ecosystems. Here is an excerpt from the CABI invasive species compendium (source: https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/43672#):

"At high densities, P. antipodarum [...] can dominate secondary production and is capable of increasing it to some of the highest values ever reported among stream invertebrates (194 g of ash free dry mass/m2/year) (Hall et al., 2006). This allows P. antipodarum to alter the overall nitrogen fixation rate of an ecosystem by consuming a high proportion of green algae, which causes an increase of nitrogen-fixing diatoms (Arango et al., 2009). Some studies show domination of mollusc communities by this species (Gerard et al., 2003; Lewin and Smolinski, 2006) and also a reduction in the growth of native molluscs (Riley et al., 2008) due to competition for space and food. Because P. antipodarum can survive travelling through the digestive tract of fish, fish that eat lots of P. antipodarum tend to lose weight compared to those which do not (Vinson and Baker, 2008)."

Based on previous failed attempts to control agricultural pests or disease vectors with non-native species and given the references from the CABI species sheet I feel the article should have been much more cautious in reflecting on the potential use of this species in the control of schistosome cercariae spread.

References: Arango CP, Riley LA, Tank JL, Hall RO, 2009. Herbivory by an invasive snail increases nitrogen fixation in a nitrogen-limited stream. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 2009, 66:1309-1317. Gerard C; Blanc A; Costil K, 2003. Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Mollusca : Hydrobiidae) in continental aquatic gastropod communities: impact of salinity and trematode parasitism. Hydrobiologia, 493:167-172. Hall RO Jr., Dybdahl MF, VanderLoop MC, 2006 Extremely high secondary production of introduced snails in rivers.Ecological Applications 16 3 1121-1131. Lewin I; Smolinski A, 2006. Rare and vulnerable species in the mollusc communities in the mining subsidence reservoirs of an industrial area (The Katowicka Upland, Upper Silesia, Southern Poland). Limnologica, 36:181-191 Riley LA, Dybdahl MF, Hall Jr RO 2008. Invasive species impact: asymmetric interactions between invasive and endemic freshwater snails. Journal of the North American Benthological Society Vinson MR; Baker MA, 2008. Poor growth of rainbow trout fed New Zealand mud snails Potamopyrgus antipodarum. North American Journal of Fish Management, 28:701-709.