Sark first in British Isles to fully protect the crawfish
Sark has become the first place in the British Isles to fully protect crawfish.
A survey by island-based underwater film-maker Sue Daly last summer showed that having been fished almost to extinction in the 1960s and 1970s, the species was making a return.
‘Since I started diving around the Channel Islands in 1988 I’ve hardly seen any crawfish, maybe one or two adults a year and some years none at all although they used to be plentiful,’ said Ms Daly.
‘But in 2014 I began seeing juvenile crawfish on the reefs around Sark for the first time.
‘Since then I’ve seen more and larger crawfish but was concerned that, without protection, these wonderful creatures would simply be fished out again.’
Crawfish have also been reported around the other Channel Islands and the south-west coast of England.
Ms Daly called on other Channel Islands and the UK to protect the species before it was too late.
Sark’s Sea Fisheries Committee proposed the move within the island’s three-mile territorial limit following talks with local fisherman.
This was supported by Chief Pleas in January and the law enacted this Spring.
Sea Fisheries chairman Helen Plummer said: ‘we’re hoping that crawfish stocks will continue to increase and perhaps in time we’ll be able to allow a limited amount of fishing for them. For now they are protected for the next three years.’
Marine Protected Areas specialist Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, from the Marine Conservation Society, congratulated Sark and the fisherman.
‘It’s fantastic and exciting that the marine environment can recover in ways we can’t imagine, or really understand,’ he said.
‘This is why MPAs and marine management is so very important – if we were to close some areas to some activities, the results may not be apparent today, but may be in years, and even decades to come.’
