LOS ANGELES (AP) - Volunteers are on a mission to rid creeks in the Santa Monica Mountains of an invasive crawfish, hoping they will enable endangered steelhead to return to their historic spawning grounds.
A $600,000 grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is funding the three year effort to trap and remove the 3-inch long non-native crawfish from the area’s rivers and streams, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday (https://lat.ms/1NMd8yU ).
Over the past year, volunteers from local schools led by biologists for the nonprofit Mountains Restoration Trust have removed roughly 44,000 of the crawfish and sent them to a local wildlife center to feed possums and raccoons.
“Native species don’t stand a chance against these guys,” said biologist Kyle Troy, adding that the crawfish eat fish, insects and the eggs and tadpoles of frogs and toads. “So we’re going to get rid of every one of them.”
Lee Katz, a biologist at Pepperdine University, says removing the crawfish allows native species including aquatic insects and steelhead to rebound.
Over the last century, the crawfish have multiplied in the 109-square-mile Malibu Creek watershed. They were introduced to the area by anglers who used them as bait and thrive where there is year-round running water and shade.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, https://www.latimes.com/
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