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Crayfish surveys on the River Barrow
ECOFACT staff are currently very busy with an exceptional amount of fieldwork on this year, including a number of crayfish surveys. We are particularly busy undertaking terrestrial and aquatic surveys for Waterways Ireland, including some interesting work on the Barrow Navigation.
Waterways Ireland is the North/South Implementation Body for the inland navigable waterway systems of Ireland. The statutory remit of Waterways Ireland is to manage, maintain, develop and restore the inland navigable waterways, principally for recreational purposes. Waterways Ireland propose to undertake weir/sluice repairs in 2014 on six weirs on the River Barrow.
ECOFACT are currently undertaking the aquatic and terrestrial ecological surveys that will inform the Appropriate Assessment Reporting and Environmental Assessment for these important maintenance works. One of surveys we are undertaking is a crayfish survey of all these affected sites.
White-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes [1092] is listed on Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive. This species is still widespread in lakes and rivers over much of Ireland, but it is becoming increasingly restricted to headwater streams elsewhere in Europe. The gallery below shows some of the observations we made this week at some of the sites affected by this proposed maintenance project located within the River Barrow and River Nore candidate Special Area of Conservation (Site Code 002162). White-clawed crayfish is a key conservation interest of the River Barrow and River Nore cSAC. This week we completed surveys of white-clawed crayfish and were delighted to record this species at all of the sites we investigated.
ECOFACT is Ireland’s leading independent ecology consultancy, and providing aquatic surveys such as white-clawed crayfish is one of our core areas of expertise. If you require any advice regarding an ecological issue please do not hesitate to contact us.
Also see our dedicated page for aquatic ecology and fisheries assessments for more information on our capabilities.
Also see our dedicated website www.CrayfishSurveys.com for further information.
ECOFACT Environmental Consultants Ltd. have recently prepared the following manual:-
A technical manual for monitoring white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes in Irish lakes
This manual was prepared on behalf of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). This is now the standard protocol for sampling and monitoring lake populations of white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes).
