30-Jun-2006
- More than 100 threatened white-clawed crayfish
have been killed from suspected sheep dip contamination
of a stream in Cumbria, only a year after the
Environment Agency restocked the waterway.
Ecologists believe it will take
years for the native crayfish population in Mill
Beck near Windermere to recover, only five years
after a similar pollution incident in the stream
almost wiped out the species.
Environment Agency ecologist
Brian Ingersent said Cumbria’s waterways were
some of the last remaining strongholds of native
white-clawed crayfish in England, a species that
has been decimated in the south by pollution,
the invasive American signal crayfish and disease.
"We had a major sheep dip
pollution incident in 2000 which wiped out over
one thousand of the crayfish," Mr Ingersent
said, "and the remaining population wouldn’t
have had the time to reach these kinds of numbers."
"So unfortunately the majority
of the crayfish killed this month would have been
those from last years restocking."
Mr Ingersent said while Mill
Beck was free of the invasive signal crayfish,
the impact of losing more than 100 of the native
species - both adult and juvenile - would be another
major setback for a waterway that has a sordid
history of pollution incidents.
"The Environment Agency
were very keen to safeguard the species and accepted
200 native crayfish for restocking last year after
a nearby reservoir was partially lowered for maintenance
work. But this was not a normal procedure and
it may take years for the native crayfish to get
back to the level they were only last month."
Mr Ingersent said smaller tributaries
that ran into Mill Beck had escaped the pollution
that covered half a mile of the stream and he
hoped some of the crayfish had survived in these
side waters.
Environment Agency Agricultural
Policy Manager Rob Robinson said: "Less than
one teaspoon of cypermethrin sheep dip can wipe
out aquatic insect life for hundreds of metres
and may ruin fishing. Farmers do need to take
extra care when using and disposing of sheep dip."
The Environment Agency has been
working with the Veterinary Medicines Directorate
to develop a sheep dip Pollution Reduction Programme
(PRP) because we believe prompt action is needed
to address this issue.
We consulted on the draft PRP
at the beginning of 2006 and a range of organisations
including regulators and associations representing
farmers, anglers, veterinarians, manufacturers
and wildlife interests responded to the consultation.
We are presently revising the PRP to take on board
comments received and will be publishing it later
this summer."
Farmers can find out more about
using and disposing of sheep safely on the Environment
Agency website.
In other fish kill pollution
incidents in June, the Environment Agency found:
400 dead fish on the River Blithe
in Stoke on Trent including about 100 brown trout;
around 2000 fish were found floating on Langford
lakes in Somerset;
about 400 dead fish were found in the River Grom
in Tunbridge Wells in Kent;
Notes to editors:
1. White-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius
pallipes)
There has been a massive decline
in the numbers of protected white clawed crayfish
over the past 50 years, due to a combination of
pollution, the invasion of the American signal
crayfish and crayfish plague. The North West is
the last stronghold for this species in the UK.
Populations of white clawed crayfish are widely
distributed throughout other areas in England
and Wales, but the number of crayfish in these
populations is very low.
The white clawed crayfish is
a United Kingdom (UK) Biodiversity Action Plan
Priority Species and protected under the Habitats
Directive and Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
White clawed crayfish are a priority biodiversity
action plan species for the Environment Agency.
2. American signal crayfish
(Pacifastacus leniusculus)
Introduced in the 1970s
the larger signal crayfish out-competes the native
crayfish and carries a fungal disease for which
the local species has little or no immunity. After
the initial stocking of over 300 sites across
southern England, the spread of signal crayfish
has been aided by further illegal stocking.
Head Office Press Office
