The white-clawed crayfish, austropotamobius pallipes, in Great Britain and Ireland with particular reference to its conservation in Great Britain

摘要

Great Britain and Ireland still contain some of the best stocks of Austropotamobius pallipes in Europe despite the fact that since the early 1980s many populations have been devastated bythe effects of crayfish plague and compétitive exclusion by non-native crayfish.Austropotamobius pallipes is the only crayfish native to Great Britain and Ireland but inrécent years a number of introductions of foreign crayfish have been made into Great Britain, foraquacultural, culinary and aquarist purposes. This has resulted in four non-native crayfish speciesbecoming established in thewild, wheretwo, Pacifastacus leniusculus and Astacusleptodactylus ,have formed large, harvestable populations, particularly in southern England.Although A. pallipes in Great Britain and Ireland is protected by national and Europeanlégislation, this has not been enough to protect it from crayfish plague and, in Great Britain, fromnon-native crayfish. In an attempt to protect A. pallipes even further, législation has beenimplemented in England, Scotland and Wales which bans the keeping of ail non-native crayfish,except wherethey are being prepared for human consumption. P. leniusculus is, however, exemptfrom this ban in certain parts of southern Great Britain dueto its high prépondérance on crayfishfarms and in the wild. Ireland already bans the introduction of non-native crayfish.It is hoped that the new législation, plus the heightened profile which A. pallipes hasrecently been given in Great Britain, will ensure its future survival.