Surveys of White-clawed Crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes in selected lakes and Special Areas of Conservation

Tender description

Responsibility for the species under the Habitats Directive rests with National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Marine Institute has responsibility for Crayfish Plague as a notifiable disease under animal health regulations. NPWS works with the Marine Institute in responding to disease outbreaks and supporting a programme of e-DNA testing of rivers and lakes throughout the range of the WCC to determine the presence or absence of this species, Crayfish Plague and non-indigenous crayfish species (NICS). There may be times when Marine Institute staff will coordinate sampling during this tender. This will be arranged to suit both parties if needed. To complement this broad-scale e-DNA testing, three small-scale surveys were undertaken in 2020 to determine the status of WCC in some localities in Ireland from which there is little or no recent information. This tender is to add to this body of information and to provide baseline and surveillance records to NPWS species datasets and to aid understanding of crayfish occurrence in Irish lakes. Whilst there are records from many lakes the status of the species in them is often unclear and contradictory with unexplained absences. Tenderers are advised to consult the NPWS published work in the Irish Wildlife Manuals series. Tasks and Methodology This survey is intended to cover three areas of work: 1. South Donegal lakes. Some work was carried out in south Co Donegal in autumn 2020, and this indicated that there may be some undetected lake populations some of which are in SACs. See map D and the attached report (Surveillance surveys of White-clawed Crayfish in South Donegal October 2020.pdf). Tenders should propose additional work to build on the existing body of information about the White-clawed Crayfish in this region which is isolated from the main distribution of the species in central Ireland (although linked to Northern Ireland distribution). Sites that should be covered included Lough Rushen, the Ballintra River, marl lakes in the Ballintra area (e.g. Lough Gor