March 2006 Volume 28, Issue 1 ISSN 1023-8174 The Official Newsletter of the International Association of Astacology Inside this issue: UPDATE: Giant Tasmanian “Lobster” Cover Story 1 (Astacopsis gouldi) Habitat Still Vulnerable! Presidents Corner 2 Short Articles 4 One More Record of 4 Cherax quadricarinatus in Mexico Updates on the 4 distribution of the white-clawed and the narrow-clawed crayfish in Croatia Color Variation in 5 Procambarus clarkii Panama City Crayfish— 6 Status Assessment Still on time: Can we 6 recover the white- clawed crayfish in Spain? New Books 8 News From Around 10 the World LARGE SPECIMEN OF ASTACOPSIS GOULDI FOUND: This photo depicts “Ivan” the 4.55kg Meetings and 11 (10.0 lb) specimen mentioned in the cover story. Photo ©2006 by Todd Walsh. Workshops As this update is published, the now be under threat from land clear- IAA Related News 13 Federal Government is considering the ing and siltation. Recovery Plan for Astacopsis gouldi Any Class 4 stream above 250m elevation Literature of 14 that has been signed off by the Tasma- will not get a 30m buffer. Interest to nian Government. The Tasmanian Gov- Astacologists ernment has not accepted the recom- Here is how the Habitat Assessment mendation of the majority of the Re- works: IAA Membership 15 covery Team to implement 30m buffers Application on smaller streams in the range of A 1. UNSUITABLE HABITAT gouldi. A habitat assessment plan has • all stream reaches > 400m elevation been put forward instead. within catchments known or likely to Papers from IAA 15 are The Government and Forest Indus- contain A. gouldi as in current range now available to mem- try will use this system, which will take boundary GIS layer (based on cur- bers on CD. See page away the need to implement 30m rent known records and expert 13 for more informa- buffers on many smaller waterways. opinion). No change to current pre- tion on obtaining your Headwaters are particularly impacted scriptions, Class 4 streams get 10m copy of the symposium with this form of assessment and I fear machinery exclusion zone. proceedings. that the majority of headwaters will (Continued on page 3) Crayfish News y Volume 28 Issue 1: Page 1 Presidents Corner Dear IAA members: ogy at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (Pittsburg, PA, USA). His re- search interests span from crustacean This is my last President’s corner. My phylogenetics and systematics to conser- mandate will finish this summer and I vation biology and bioinformatics. In am very happy knowing that the board 2001, he obtained his PhD in Zoology at is made up of excellent people that will Brigham Young University in Provo (UT, continue to manage the responsibilities USA), with a thesis on “Molecular popu- Francesca Gherardi, of the society after me. Specifically, lation genetics and phylogeography of IAA President Catherine Souty-Grosset, our President- the golden crayfish (Orconectes luteus) elect, is one of the most determinate inferred from mitochondrial 16S gene and effective people I have ever met. sequences and hypervariable microsatel- She has been able to lead the CRAYNET lite loci”. His involvement with crayfish consortium toward an exceptional suc- is well documented by the long list of cess for three years with her hard and outstanding publications, some of them devoted work. She is also a very pleas- coauthored with our Past President, ant and sincere friend, who was able to Keith Crandall. give me help in the most difficult times. So, after the end of my term I am And we had some along the way. sure you will be in very good hands. I also hope that the Society will nominate Jim Fetzner as the new secre- tary-treasurer. As you all know, it is Best wishes to you all. H thanks to him that we have our beauti- ful webpage. He is also the editor of Crayfish News in its re-styled electronic See you soon, version. For those who had no chance Francesca Gherardi to read his articles and never met him, I Department of Animal Biology will say only a few words to describe and Genetics Jim’s capabilities as an officer of our University of Florence Society. Since 2004, Dr. James (Jim) W. Via Romana 17, 50125 Fetzner has been a visiting assistant cu- Florence, Italy rator in the section of invertebrate zool- The International Association of Astacology (IAA), founded in Officers: Hintertal, Austria in 1972, is dedicated to the study, conservation, Francesca Gherardi, President, Department of Animal Biology and wise utilisation of freshwater crayfish. Any individual or firm and Genetics, University of Florence, via Romana 17, 50125 Firenze, interested in furthering the study of astacology is eligible for Italy. E-mail: [email protected] membership. Service to members include a quarterly newsletter, membership directory, bi-annual international symposia and Catherine Souty-Grosset, President-elect, Laboratoire de Géné- publication of the journal Freshwater Crayfish. tique et Biologie des Populations de Crustacés, University of Poitiers, UMR CNRS 6556, 86022 Poitiers Cedex, France. Secretariat: E-mail: [email protected] The International Association of Astacology has a permanent Elizabeth Watson, Secretary, DRA Aquatic Consultants, 20 Cedar secretariat managed by Bill Daniels. Address: IAA Secretariat, Road, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2LR. England. Room 123, Swingle Hall, Department of Fisheries and Allied Aqua- E-mail: [email protected] cultures, Auburn University, AL 36849-5419, USA. Keith Crandall, Past-President, Department of Integrative Biol- Tel: +1(334) 844-9123 / Fax: +1(334) 844-9208 ogy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602-5255 USA. E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Web page: Statements and opinions expressed in Crayfish News are not http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/IAA/ necessarily those of the International Association of Webmaster: James W. Fetzner Jr. Astacology E-mail: [email protected] This issue edited by James W. Fetzner Jr. Crayfish News y Volume 28 Issue 1: Page 2 (Continued from page 1) • all remaining streams of 250 – 400 m elevation (i.e., those that fail one or more of the High Suit- This excludes almost all headwaters from getting 30m ability rule conditions for mosaics, slope or ripar- buffers. ian vegetation). No change to current prescrip- 2. HIGH SUITABILITY (i.e., relatively undisturbed low- tions, Class 4 streams get 10m machinery exclusion land perennial streams with coarse substrates) 30m zone. streamside reserves on class 4 streams Classification of Water Class (Forestry Tasmania). • stream classes 1 & 2 and 3, and stream class 4 in • Class 1. Rivers, lakes, artificial storages (other geomorphic contact zones (exact definition to be than farm dams) and tidal waters (1) - generally provided); with: those named on 1:100,000 topographical series a. < 250m elevation; and maps. b. drainage section average slope < 10%; and • Class 2. Creeks, streams and other watercourses c. geomorphic mosaics that represent optimal from the point where their catchment exceeds meso-habitat (i.e., boulders & coarse sub- 100 ha. strates - exact classes to be provided) and • Class 3. Watercourses carrying running water snags; and most of the year between the points where their d. riparian forest in relatively good condition catchment is from 50 to 100 ha. (i.e. drainage section CFEV ripveg index >0.8) • Class 4. All other watercourses carrying water for part or all of the year for most years. This means almost no Class 4 streams get larger buff- No less than 2 Federal Ministers have called on ers, therefore preserving the status quo, which is cer- the State Government to implement 30m buffers on tainly what Forestry wants. all class 4 streams, the ball is now in their court. It is by no means certain that they themselves will imple- Class 4 Streams will mostly fall into the Medium or the ment what they have asked of the State govern- Low Suitability or Unsuitable Habitat ment. That unfortunately is politics. 3. MEDIUM SUITABILITY On a much more positive note, I recently cap- tured a large specimen. I’ve sent the pictures • stream classes 1, 2 & 3, and class 4 streams in geo- through so we can all see that there are still massive morphic contact zones, (i.e., perennial streams): specimens out there in the wild. Its important to • with 250-400m elevation; and note that this specimen was captured downstream from protected headwaters and was captured above • that meet all the slope, mosaic and riparian 250 m altitude. Weight 4.550 kg (10.01 LB), CPL 218 forest rule conditions for High Suitability (b- mm, claw 215 mm, total length 750 mm. H d above); or Editor’s Note: An online petition was Todd Walsh • stream reaches < 250 m elevation that: started in June 2005 to help save this Western Waterwatch unique crayfish. If you would like to PO Box 715 • only meet one of the slope or mosaic condi- sign the petition, please see tions for High Suitability (b-c above) and http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/crayfish/IAA/ ULVERSTONE 7315 petition.asp 0439 69 3377 • have riparian vegetation in good condition (i.e. of CFEV ripveg index > 0.8); or they meet both mosaic and slope conditions for High Suitability (b-c above) and riparian vegetation is not in good condition (i.e., CFEV ripveg index < 0.8). No change to current prescriptions, Class 4 streams get 10m machinery exclusion zone. 4. LOW SUITABILITY • stream classes 1, 2 & 3, and class 4 streams in geo- morphic contact zones, that have poor condition riparian forest (i.e., CFEV ripveg index < 0.2); or • all remaining class 4 streams (i.e., not in geomor- phic contact zones); or “Ivan” in the wild.