Once the surveying is complete, we will be able to identify strategies to protect and enhance the populations of White-clawed Crayfish. This will be achieved through improving our understanding of the threats to populations, agreeing our priorities and taking appropriate actions. We’ll be looking at how we can reduce the risk from invasive species and increasing existing populations through informed habitat and land management practices.
We will also be looking for suitable ‘Ark’ sites. These are sites which don’t currently have populations of White-clawed Crayfish but are suitable habitats and are isolated from the risks associated with the Signal Crayfish. We can then move some White-clawed Crayfish from a healthy population to the ‘Ark’ site. This would then mean if the worst case scenario was to happen and a population of White-clawed crayfish was wiped out by plague they could be re-populated from the 'Ark' site.
There’s a lot to be done but things are underway.
What can you do to help?
It is very easy to make small changes, which can help protect the White-clawed Crayfish. In the very first instance, you can help limit the transfer of Crayfish plague, which devastates populations of White-clawed Crayfish and is easily transferred between watercourses. In order for you to play your part in the protection of this species, we ask you to follow the CLEAN-CHECK-DRY set of principles if you have been in water.
The cause of Crayfish Plague is a water mould which attacks the soft tissue of crayfish and has a 100% mortality rate. Were it to get into the upper catchment of a river it would wipe out an entire population within a couple of weeks. You can unwittingly transfer it from one watercourse to another on items such as wellies, clothing and even on your dog! The microscopic spores can survive out of water for 48 hours and if in wet or muddy items it can survive for up to 3 weeks. If accessing our watercourses we would ask that that people follow the Check, Clean, Dry protocol for biosecurity for invasive species. This link will tell you more about what to do http://www.nonnativespecies.org/checkcleandry/
Next steps
Whilst we’re busy with the first stages of the project, you can keep an eye out for updates on our social media channels and website. We’ll be making sure that we keep you up to speed on the results of our initial survey. We can’t wait to share what we find out!