Marron Cherax cainii (Austin) in Victoria – a Literature Review David Bryant and Phil Papas 2007 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 167 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 167 Marron Cherax cainii (Austin) in Victoria – a literature review David Bryant and Phil Papas Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 November 2007 Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment. Heidelberg, Victoria. Report produced by: Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Department of Sustainability and Environment PO Box 137 Heidelberg, Victoria 3084 Phone (03) 9450 8600 Website: www.dse.vic.gov.au/ari © State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment 2007 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical or graphic) without the prior written permission of the State of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment. All requests and enquires should be directed to the Customer Service Centre, 136 186 or email [email protected] Citation Bryant, D. and Papas, P. (2007). ‘Marron Cherax cainii (Austin) in Victoria – a literature review’. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 167. (Department of Sustainability and Environment: Heidelberg). ISBN 978-1-74208-219-6 (Print) ISBN 978-1-74208-220-2 (Online) ISSN 1835-3827 (Print) ISSN 1835-3835 (Online) Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Authorised by the Victorian Government, Melbourne. Printed by: NMIT Printroom, 77-91 St Georges Road, Preston 3072 Contents List of figures and tables...................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. iii Summary ................................................................................................................................iv 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 2 Biology and ecology of marron................................................................................... 1 2.1 Taxonomy ........................................................................................................ 1 2.2 Habitat.............................................................................................................. 2 2.3 Biology.......................................................................................................................... 2 2.4 Environmental tolerances ........................................................................................ 4 3 Marron translocations................................................................................................... 7 3.1 Translocations outside Victoria...................................................................... 7 3.2 Translocations within Victoria........................................................................ 8 3.2.1 History of marron in Victoria ............................................................................. 8 3.2.2 Known and established populations................................................................. 9 3.2.3 Unconfirmed populations following reports of marron............................. 10 3.2.4 Other known occurrences of marron in Victoria ......................................... 11 3.2.5 Summary of marron observations in Victoria............................................... 11 4 Potential distribution of marron...............................................................................12 4.1 Predicting the potential distribution of marron ..........................................12 4.2 The potential distribution of redclaw within Victoria .................................13 5 Potential impacts of marron in Victoria..................................................................14 5.1 Disease ...........................................................................................................14 5.2 Competitive interactions between crayfish..................................................14 6 Knowledge gaps and future considerations...........................................................16 6.1 Predicting the potential spread of marron in Victoria .................................... 16 6.2 Presence of marron in private waters ................................................................. 16 6.3 The impact of marron on endemic crayfish ...................................................... 16 7 References.....................................................................................................................17 Appendix 1. Climex climactic matching..........................................................................20 i List of figures and tables Figure 1. Marron (Cherax cainii) characters for identification, from Fisheries Western Australia (2004)...........................................................................................................3 Figure 2. Yabby (Cherax destructor/albidus) characters for identification, from Fisheries WA (2004)..........................................................................................................4 Figure 3. Map showing distribution of marron in Western Australia (courtesy of Fisheries Western Australia)................................................................................................ 8 Figure 4. Confirmed marron populations on the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne...........................................................................................................10 Figure 5. Timeline of marron observations in Victoria.....................................................11 Figure 6. The area of Australia potentially suitable for marron farming (from Lawrence (1998)). Note that the claim that marron farming is not permitted in Victoria is not accurate. If the proposed activity is consistent with NAS policy statement, an aquaculture licence and NAS permit can be issued for farming of marron (Paul Mainey, Fisheries Victoria, pers. comm. 2007)......................12 Figure 7. Climate zones of Australia (from the Bureau of Meteorology)......................12 Figure 8. Current production area for redclaw (Cherax quadricarinatus) within Australia (from Jones (1998)). ...................................................................................13 Table 1. Environmental tolerances for marron (Cherax cainii).........................................5 Table 2. Environmental tolerances for the yabby (Cherax destructor/albidus) and redclaw (Cherax quadricarinatus). ..................................................................................6 Table 3. Summary of the environmental tolerances for the marron (Cherax cainii), the yabby (Cherax destructor/albidus) and redclaw (Cherax quadricarinatus). Values are the means from tables 1 and 2. ..........................................7 ii Acknowledgements Funding for the review was provided by Melbourne Water. The following people are thanked for their comments on the draft: Louise Galli (Fisheries Victoria, Department of Primary Industries), Paul Mainey (Fisheries Victoria, Department of Primary Industries), Bill O’Connor (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Department of Sustainability and Environment), Vin Pettigrove (Melbourne Water), Tarmo Raadik (Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment), Ed Tsyrlin (Melbourne water) and Matt Ward (Fisheries Victoria, Department of Primary Industries). iii Summary Marron (Cherax cainii), a freshwater crayfish endemic to Western Australia, is a declared noxious species within Victoria. The species has been translocated into Victoria with two self sustaining populations known on the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne. Both populations occur in artificial waterbodies – Devilbend reservoir and OT Dam. It is suspected that attempts to translocate marron sourced from these populations have been made. The true extent of the marron population in Victoria is unknown as private waters (farm dams for example) have not been surveyed. Tolerance data for marron indicate that the spread of marron in Victoria would not be constrained by water temperature. The impact of marron on native freshwater crayfish in Victoria is unknown. Further study on the distribution of marron in Victoria, its physiological tolerances under Victorian conditions and its interaction with native freshwater crayfish is required before an adequate assessment of the impact of the species on the freshwater ecology of Victorian waters can be confidently ascertained. iv Marron Cherax cainii (Austin) in Victoria – a literature review 1 Introduction Marron, Cherax cainii (Austin 2002), formerly Cherax tenuimanus (Smith 1912)