Biodiversity Action Plan
White-Clawed Crayfish
The
white-clawed crayfish is our only native freshwater crayfish, living in clean streams, rivers and lakes
in England and Wales.
It is a national priority species having suffered serious decline since the 1970s. One of the greatest threats comes from the North American signal crayfish which has been farmed in Britain since 1970 and escaped into the rivers. This non-native species carries crayfish plague which spreads to the native population, added to this the signal crayfish is an aggressive species which out-competes the white-clawed crayfish.
There are only a handful of known sites for this species in the Peak District. Part of the action to conserve the crayfish has included establishing captive breeding programmes in Lathkill Dale and on National Trust land at Ilam, where individuals can breed in isolated sites free from signal crayfish. Such places are known as ark sites.White-clawed
crayfish action
plan
(290KB) 
Natural England report: Reintroducing
the white-clawed crayfish to the River Lathkill (520KB)
Revised BAP Targets
- Maintain the River Manifold metapopulation by 2010
- Establish two ark populations using individuals from other Peak District populations by 2010
- Ensure all known white-clawed crayfish sites are in favourable conservation management by 2010, with the aim of maintaining white-clawed crayfish numbers and distribution and also habitat and water quality
- Maintain a self-sustaining reintroduced population in the area of the River Lathkill by 2010
