MINSK, 7 June (BelTA) – Belarusian scientists are establishing new populations of the broad-fingered crayfish (Astacus astacus) and the thick shelled river mussel (Unio crassus) as part of the Wetlands project, BelTA learned from the UNDP in Belarus press office.
The Wetlands project is financed by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and is implemented by the UNDP in partnership with the Belarusian Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry.
The broad-fingered crayfish lives only in unpolluted water and has almost gone extinct in Europe. This species has been included into the Red Book of Endangered Species of Belarus. Small populations still inhabit some river basins, including the Neman River basin where the researchers are attempting to create a new population.
Researchers from the Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus caught 200 individuals near Moroska village in Molodechno District and then released them into the Litovka water reservoir in Novogrudok District and into the Neman River basin. According to the scientists, one of the main requirements for establishing a new population of aquatic organisms is to introduce the species into one large river basin. Water bodies are chosen according to the analysis of their biotic and abiotic parameters.
“Creating a new population by introducing the species into a particular area is the main measure of the strategy to manage and preserve the broad-fingered crayfish population. At present, this species is facing total extinction. If the efforts to establish new broad-fingered crayfish populations in Belarus prove successful, we will be able to help reintroduce this species into water bodies in Western Europe,” Anatoly Alekhnovich, senior researcher of the Scientific and Practical Center for Bioresources, noted.
The main threats to this species include the crayfish plague carried by invasive crayfish species, habitat degradation and water pollution, uncontrolled fishing, and population fragmentation. This is why the project to establish new broad-fingered crayfish populations is a long-term one as scientists will be able to assess the results only in 10-15 years.
In line with the Wetlands project, similar measures have been taken regarding the thick shelled river mussel which is rare in Belarus and even rarer in Western Europe. However, while the broad-fingered crayfish has been reintroduced to Lake Milichino and Lake Beloye in Glubokoye District, Lake Osinovskoye in Vitebsk District, and Nikolsky Pond in Dribin District before, this is the first time such measures have been taken regarding the thick shelled river mussel.
Individuals of the mussel have been caught in the Shlyamitsa River in Grodno District and then released into the Yatranka River and the Mutnitsa River in Novogrudok district, 15 individuals into each.
Population stabilization of poorly studied, globally endangered species is one of the main aims of the large-scale five-year UNDP/GEF project Wetlands.
