Wild populations of the invasive Australian red claw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (Crustacea, Decapoda) near the northern coast of Jalisco, Mexico: a new fishing and profitable resource

Abstract

The red claw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus is native to freshwater habitats of northern Australia and Papua New Guinea. Its high reproductive and adaptive capacity in different environments allows it to be cultivated, where escaped individuals have established wild populations in countries far from their natural range. In the late 90’s and beginning of the 21st century, this crayfish was introduced illegally along the coast of southern Jalisco. Mismanagement led to escape and dispersion. Currently there are wild crayfish in the Cajón de Peñas Reservoir and surrounding streams in northern Jalisco, Mexico. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of C. quadricarinatus in fisheries in this area of Jalisco and analyze its importance in generating economic benefits for fishermen, comparing these results with those of the fishery for M. americanum, whose fishery is traditional. To catch specimens, traps were set for 24 h in the La Sanja Stream and the Cajón de Peñas Reservoir. The results of the survey showed that C. quadrica rinatus is an important part of the crustacean catch in this area: 32% of the total catch in the stream corresponded to C. quadricarinatus and the rest to M. americanum. While 85% of the catch in the dam corresponded to C. quadricarinatus, only 15% referred to M. americanum. Crayfish fishing in the reservoir is now an important part of the productive activity of local families dependent on fishing. The ecological consequences of wild crayfish proliferation remain to be studied.

The redclaw crayfish: A prominent aquaculture species with invasive potential in tropical and subtropical biodiversity hotspots

“…Redclaw represents the bulk of the crustacean catch (85%) with local prawns (M. americanum) forming the rest. In streams, redclaw form onethird of the catch (Vega-Villasante et al 2015). These differences are presumed to increase in the future especially in this particular dam (but in turn also in the entire catchment), as the dam prevents the annual upstream migration of prawn recruitment (Vega-Villasante et al 2015), and also as a result of expected species competition.…”

“…On the other hand, redclaw fishery is considered valuable at other places, which apply to the artisanal fishery mentioned above, and recreational fisheries (Ahyong & Yeo 2007;Belle & Yeo 2010) providing even greater potential for positive socio-economic effects. However, simultaneous decline of local biota including at least some fished species following redclaw establishment is expected (Vega-Villasante et al 2015;Todd 2017;Douthwaite et al 2018), although this remains a poorly documented issue. Economic evaluation of these alterations is demanding for fisheries without a baseline assessment, as seen in the redclaw (Coetzee et al 2015;Chivambo et al 2020;Madzivanzira et al 2020), as well as other invasive crayfish, such as red swamp crayfish (Lowery & Mendes 1977) and marbled crayfish (Andriantsoa et al 2019;Andriantsoa et al 2020) Among other consequences, damage to irrigation projects has been reported on La R eunion (Robinet 2010), which is in line with observation from natural habitats in other regions (Todd & D'Andrea 2003;Todd 2017).…”

“…This has implications in the monetary significance; local Macrobrachium spp. can be up to 2-4 times more valued (Pienkowski et al 2015;Vega-Villasante et al 2015) as well as animal protein issues in terms of human nutrition. The relatively small size and/or hard shell of claws of main aquaculture/fishery crayfish species makes industrial separation of claw meat demanding, results in almost exclusive utilization of abdominal meat for human consumption.…”

“…The perception and prime interests of a study can obviously influence the evaluation to a substantial degree. Vega-Villasante et al (2015) argue that crayfish fishing in a previously invaded reservoir is now an important part of the productive activity of local people dependent on fishing. This not only underlines how economic benefits can outweigh the crucial impacts on native biodiversity, but also highlights how, despite being signalled as potentially harmful, it is already considered as an important activity that should be acknowledged and monitored by the government (while simultaneously calling for further studies).…”

“…This impact category was, to some extent, attributed to established populations of redclaw that have led to changes in local fishing activities (e.g. from catching prawns to redclaw in Mexico (Vega-Villasante et al 2015), or a shift from a fish to redclaw fishery in Lake Kariba in Zambia and Zimbabwe which does not increase human well-being due to the lack of an established market with low process accompanied and, hence, no increase in opportunities; Douthwaite et al 2018). Compared to potentially impacted stocks of certain fish species, relevance of redclaw as a source of protein is questionable, given the differing meat yields.…”