Project to conserve the crayfish, which is in danger of extinction.

The Associació Paisatges Vius has launched the project “Actions for adaptation to climate change in the conservation of crayfish” with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation.

The native crayfish (Austrapotamobius pallipes) is the largest aquatic invertebrate in the Iberian Peninsula and its conservation status is considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as 99% of its populations have disappeared in the last 30 years.

The biggest threat to the last populations of native crayfish is the lack of water in the rivers where the species still resists in Catalonia. With the aim of increasing the ecological resilience of these populations to the effects of climate change, a series of pilot adaptation measures have been carried out divided into four strategic axes:

1. Guarantee a permanent minimum flow by expanding the submerged habitat and eliminating catchments or greening them to reduce the volume of water used for human uses.

2. To increase the adaptive capacity of populations by increasing their genetic diversity. This was achieved through a previous analysis of the haplotypes present in each population and subsequent population reinforcements.

3. Facilitate the repopulation of river courses suitable for the species by reintroducing specimens from other populations.

4. Involve the local population in the conservation of crayfish through stewardship agreements and the preparation of management documents for each population to be delivered to the municipalities involved.