Written question asked by Mark Tami (Labour) on Thursday, 27 January 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 31 January 2011. It was answered by Lord Benyon (Conservative) on Thursday, 3 February 2011 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Crayfish

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what (a) advice and (b) guidance her Department provides to (i) the Environment Agency and (ii) other relevant agencies on control of the signal crayfish population.

Answer: The non-native species framework strategy for Great Britain sets out the Government's broad policy approach to invasive non-native species. As signal crayfish are well established, complete eradication is no longer achievable. Therefore, our policy is to look toward methods to manage this species in the long term, minimising its spread and mitigating the consequent negative impacts where feasible.DEFRA has had representation, through its executive agency CEFAS, on the native crayfish Biodiversity Action Plan steering group, which has disseminated advice on DEFRA policy to other agencies represented on the group (EA, Natural England, CCW), and to the wider community researching or managing crayfish populations. CEFAS additionally provides advice to other agencies and the public in respect of the legislation applicable to signal crayfish (and other alien crayfish) management and control within England and Wales.

Secondary information