Crayfish Numbers Slowly Rising

A conservation project, which started in the Yorkshire Dales in 2003, is bringing some great news to British Conservationists.

The project was designed to help save the native ‘white-clawed crayfish’, which is officially an endangered species.

The crayfish had been dying out in large numbers thanks to competition from a very aggressive American breed and a disease known as the ‘Crayfish Plague’, almost certainly brought over by fungus on the bodies of the American Crayfish.

The good news is that the Yorkshire Dales project has managed to produce 300 juveniles to help boost the numbers of the struggling crayfish, making it the most successful project of its type.

It is hoping to expand this again next year, when it is targeting 500 crayfish to reach sexual maturity. These will then be released out into the wild.

Initially the project was designed to ‘ring fence’ the crayfish, as the disease that was killing them off was spread by water and contact with equipment that had also been used on the American breed.

Since then the project has been developing a captive breeding program, which has gone on to produce the 300 juveniles.

With over 60% of the crayfish offspring making it to breeding age within the program, the Crayfish have a far larger chance of surviving within the project than they do in the wild.

While still far from ideal, this conservation project is giving the British White-Clawed Crayfish a fighting chance.