General Information

The Australian Crayfish Project (ACP) is a privately funded project to find, identify, classify and photograph all the freshwater crayfish species of Australia to increase the knowledge base with the overall aim of helping to preserve and conserve all these species and their habitat areas. The project was created by Robert B McCormack and RBM Aquaculture in 2005. However, the complexity of the project and the rapid generation of associated projects stimulated the formation of Australian Aquatic Biological Pty Limited (AABio). AABio is a private Australian Company that manages the ACP project and conducts other research projects as well as assisting other researchers with their crayfish related projects.

The Australian Crayfish Project was started in 2005 and will run to at least 2012 initially and probably beyond. We aim to survey the whole of Australia to find and identify every species of freshwater crayfish and its habitat area. Then use the information gathered to increase the knowledge base and protect & conserve all our freshwater crayfish species and their habitat for future generations. The shear size of Australia and the complexity of our species makes this task difficult and expensive. There is a vast diversity of different species of crayfish. These crayfish have developed over the last couple of million years and though as a rule these species do not interbreed, they do in many instances co-exist with each other. This makes finding some species very difficult as you may catch hundreds of one species and only then find something different living amongst them. It is not uncommon to find 2, 3 or even 4 different species living in the same drainage basin or sharing the same general habitat areas.

As a general rule, the different species of crayfish have developed individually due to four distinct factors. These are geographic barriers, water availability, temperature and predators. Most Australian species have very small distributions but some have large distributions because they can withstand wide variations of these factors. Those with the small distributions can be hard to find and some have very specific habitat requirements and even within the suitable habitat areas are restricted to small communities in isolated locations.

All these species can be very similar in appearance to other related species. All the species have different colour variations and many have morphological differences between populations. Add that there are differences in appearance between juveniles and adults and that all adds up to one enormous identification difficulty. The culmination of the Australian Crayfish Project will be full colour Field Guides to all the freshwater crayfish of Australia. Initially for each State/Territory of Australia 2 guides will be generated. These publications will be the culmination of the ACP research and will do much to increase the general knowledge base on all our Australian species.

Firstly, a smaller general public book for each state and then a larger in depth Field Guide to the Crayfish of the state are proposed. Finally, after all the individual states are done The Field Guide to the Freshwater Crayfish of Australia will be compiled. These books will help alleviate identification problems and raise the knowledge base on freshwater crayfish in Australia.

This project is also identifying previously unidentified and undescribed species – this in itself is an essential task. Many of the unidentified species are endangered and will not be considered in developments as they are unrecognized as endangered species. By identifying them and notifying the authorities of their existence may help ensure their continued existence.

Stage I is NSW, the first book "The Freshwater Crayfish of NSW, Australia" has been completed and is available for purchase (click here to purchase). Guides to Qld & Vic are under construction with Queensland expected to be available by December 2009 at this stage.

The Australian Crayfish Project is being helped by researchers, university staff, National Parks Officers, aquaculture association members, crayfish enthusiasts and the general public. Over the last 20 years plus as a crayfish farmer, TAFE lecturer, President of the Aquaculture Association and author of various crayfish books, I have had the privilege of meeting and talking to a vast number of crayfish researchers and fellow enthusiasts from around the world. Over the years I have taken in every hint and comment about weird or unusual crayfish from around Australia and recorded them in a journal. Now, with 25 years of information on locations and species to check out, I am slowly checking them all. If you have anything unusual let me know, perhaps it’s a new species. As the project continues the research team is discovering more and more new species or anomalies and we are only just getting started.

The project team has been working on the Australian Crayfish Project, finding and identifying freshwater crayfish species across Australia. These team leaders with the assistance of a vast number of students, volunteers and other researchers are conducting the core research across Australia. The team leaders consist of three experts on freshwater crayfish.

ACP Team Leader
Robert B McCormack – Managing Director/Researcher Australian Aquatic Biological P/L. 25 years as Aquaculturalist and teacher. Author of numerous books on freshwater crayfish including his 7th book “The Freshwater Crayfish of NSW Australia” ISBN 978-0-9805144-1-4. President of the NSW Aquaculture Association. Serves on various statutory advisory committees. Research Associate with the Carnegie Museum. Experienced in crayfish taxonomy, including the preparation of formal taxonomic descriptions for publication.

ACP Chief Taxonomist
Dr Jason Coughran - Associate Lecturer, Southern Cross University, PhD in freshwater crayfish biology, ecology and taxonomy. >10 years research experience in freshwater biology. Relevant experience in wild crayfish biology including growth and moulting, catch characteristics, reproductive biology, health and ectosymbionts, burrowing ecology and habitat information.

ACP Chief Geneticist
Dr. James W. Fetzner Jr. - Assistant Curator of Crustacea, Section of Invertebrate Zoology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Areas of research include 20 years of experience working on the biology, conservation, population genetics, systematics and taxonomy of freshwater crayfishes at a global level. An additional 12 years of experience in bioinformatics and the dissemination of crayfish related taxonomic information via the internet. Professional crayfish-related activities include: Secretary for the International Association of Astacology, Editor of the Crayfish News newsletter, co-editor of the journal Freshwater Crayfish.

We aim to conduct full biological studies of all Australian aquatic, semi aquatic and potential terrestrial environments to identify potential crayfish habitats. Crayfish will be captured from every potential site for identification. We intend to capture, photograph, DNA test and identify every species of crayfish in Australia. The project under the direction of the team leaders and with the assistance of a vast number of conservation volunteers, enthusiasts and researchers will do the following:

To conduct biological surveys and investigate, every pond, creek, stream, river, swamp, puddle and wet area in Australia in an effort to locate every freshwater crayfish species.
Physically collect new specimens of every crayfish species. (All original work without reference to existing collections).
Record each species, habitat, activities, lifecycle and distribution.
Photograph every species to give a photographic record/description of each species.
Identify every species via taxonomy.
Identify every species via DNA testing.
Compile and complete a full DNA database for all Australian freshwater crayfish species.
Identify, name and describe all new species collected.
Investigate and ascertain the distribution of these new species.
Identify the threats (both current and potential) and the conservation status of all species of freshwater crayfish in Australia.
Protect and conserve all species of freshwater crayfish and their habitats.
Produce a full colour field guide to the freshwater crayfish of each state within Australia.
Produce an Australian guide to the freshwater crayfish of Australia.
Increase the knowledge base on freshwater crayfish and their fragile habitat areas.

Deliverables

The results of this research project would deliver:

Development of a full DNA database of all Australian species.
Discovery of many new species and descriptions of these species.
Dramatic increase on the general and specific knowledge base on all Australian freshwater crayfish. (Habitats, burrows, life cycles, distributions, morphology and ecology).
Develop full colour field guides for the crayfish of each State of Australia to increase the knowledge base on our species and their habitats.
Creation of books on the freshwater crayfish of Australia.
Distribution maps of the species within the aquatic system.
Population maps and size estimates for each species.
Creation of databases on all crayfish captured.
Investigations of conservation status of each species and recommendations of species for IUCN listing.
Full records of tagged crayfish and the use of this base line information for future researchers.
Increase of the knowledge base on the species and their habitat to improve the understanding of their requirements for survival and proliferation.
The information ascertained on the biology and ecology of all freshwater crayfish species would be used to protect and conserve these species into the future and increase the knowledge base.
Working with other management agencies can ensure that their future environmental, developmental and catchment management plans can consider and include the freshwater crayfish of Australia and their fragile habitat areas to conserve and preserve these species for all time.

An initial budget estimate of $750,000.00 would be required to complete this project. As a privately funded project this is a massive financial burden so any assistance you can offer will be gratefully accepted. The ACP is a major project with immense benefits to the community and the crayfish. I hope you all share our passion for the freshwater crayfish of Australia and will help us in our endeavours to increase the knowledge base on all our species and ensure they are protected and conserved for all time.