Question: will your work help save lives?

Zara Gladman answered on 13 Jun 2011:

My work might save lives, but not necessarily human ones! The introduction of crayfish to new ecosystems can cause other animals and plants to go extinct, because crayfish will eat and compete with them. If I can prevent invasive crayfish from being introduced to new places, then this will make sure that native plants and animals in those places are protected.

In terms of human life… believe it or not, crayfish do have an impact! Loch Ken, for example, is a big loch in the south of Scotland that for many years, was very important for pike fishing. Fisherman used to travel from all over the place to fish in the loch. They would stay in hotels and eat in restaurants, bringing in money for the local people. Unfortunately, Loch Ken is now completely infested with crayfish. This means that fishermen find it very hard to catch fish any more – as soon as they put down their bait, they pick up crayfish instead! The number of fishermen coming to Loch Ken has gone down because of this. This means that people living in the area who own hotels and local businesses are not making money any more. So crayfish have actually destroyed the livelihoods of many people! If we can stop crayfish from being introduced to other places, then we can also protect the livelihoods of human beings.

One other thing – invasive crayfish dig burrows in the banks of rivers. When there are lots of burrows, this makes the river bank very unstable – eventually it collapses and falls into the river (destroying important habitat for fish). This means that walking along a crayfish-infested river edge can actually be very dangerous for both humans and cows/sheep, in case the bank falls in! This is another reason why invasive crayfish could threaten life.