Crawfish on Sark
Crawfish, Palinurus elephas, were fished to commercial extinction in the Channel Islands during the 1960s and 1970s. Sark's waters gave them protected status in 2018, the only place in the British Isles where they are fully protected, and snapshot dive surveys of eight reef sites have counted them since.
The 2017 survey found 15 individuals and no juveniles. 2020 found an increase at most sites, about 30 in all, still with no juveniles. The 2024 survey, by Sue Daly assisted by marine biologist Fiona Crouch, found 17, down at every site but one, with only 4 at or above the 23 centimetre legal landing size; most of the rest were juveniles of 7 centimetres or less, the first juveniles of the whole series. The 2024 report suggests octopus predation as a possible cause of the drop in large animals.
The eight reef sites are deliberately withheld and appear here only as Site A to Site H, against poaching.
| Site | 2017 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site A | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Site B | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Site C | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Site D | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Site E | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Site F | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Site G | 1 | 1 | |
| Site H | 5 | 2 |
From the island's Crawfish Conservation Reports of 2020 and 2024; the 2024 survey by Sue Daly, assisted by Fiona Crouch, with boat cover by Andy Cook. The 2020 report is unsigned.
