Consultation Document on Listing Eligibility and Conservation Actions

Euastacusdharawalus(Fitzroy Falls spiny crayfish)

You are invited to provide your views and reasons supporting related to:

1)the eligibility of Euastacusdharawalus (FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish)for inclusion on the EPBC Act threatened species list in the critically endangered category; and

2)the necessary conservation actions for the above species.

Evidence provided by experts, stakeholders and the general public are welcome. Responses can be provided by any interested person.

Anyone may nominate a native species, ecological community or threatening process for listing under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) or for a transfer of an item already on the list to a new listing category. The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes the assessment of species to determine eligibility for inclusion in the list of threatened species and provides its recommendation to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment.

Draft information for your consideration of the eligibility of this speciesfor listing as criticallyendangered starts at page3 and information associated with potential conservation actions for this species starts at page9. To assist with the Committee’s assessment, the Committee has identified a series of specific questions on which it seeks your guidance at page10.

Responses are to be provided in writing either by email to:

or by mail to:

The Director

Marine and Freshwater Species Conservation Section

Wildlife, Heritage and Marine Division

Department of the Environment

PO Box 787

Canberra ACT 2601

Responses are required to be submitted by Friday11September2015.

Contents of this information package / Page
General background information about listing threatened species / 2
Information about this consultation process / 2
Draft information about the common name and its eligibility for listing / 3
Conservation actions for the species / 9
Collective list of questions – your views / 10
References cited / 12

General background information about listing threatened species

The Australian Government helps protect species at risk of extinction by listing them as threatened under Part 13 of the EPBC Act. Once listed under the EPBC Act, the species becomes a Matter of National Environmental Significance (MNES) and must be protected from significant impacts through the assessment and approval provisions of the EPBC Act. More information about threatened species is available on the department’s website at:

Public nominations to list threatened species under the EPBC Act are received annually by the department. In order to determine if a species is eligible for listing as threatened under the EPBC Act, the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes a rigorous scientific assessment of its status to determine if the species is eligible for listing against a set of criteria. These criteria are available on the Department’s website at:

As part of the assessment process, the Committee consults with the public and stakeholders to obtain specific details about the species, as well as advice on what conservation actions might be appropriate. Information provided through the consultation process is considered by the Committee in its assessment. The Committee provides its advice on the assessment (together with comments received) to the Minister regarding the eligibility of the species for listing under a particular category and what conservation actions might be appropriate. The Minister decides to add, or not to add, the species to the list of threatened species under the EPBC Act.More detailed information about the listing process is at:

To promote the recovery of listed threatened species and ecological communities, conservation advices and where required, recovery plans are made or adopted in accordance with Part 13 of the EPBC Act. Conservation advices provide guidance at the time of listing on known threats and priority recovery actions that can be undertaken at a local and regional level. Recovery plans describe key threats and identify specific recovery actions that can be undertaken to enable recovery activities to occur within a planned and logical national framework. Information about recovery plans is available on the department’s website at:

Information about this consultation process

Responses to this consultation can be provided electronically or in hard copy to the contact addresses provided on Page 1. All responses received will be provided in full to the Committee and then to theAustralian Government Minister for the Environment.

In providing comments, please provide references to published data where possible. Should the Committee use the information you provide in formulating its advice, the information will be attributed to you and referenced as a ‘personal communication’ unless you provide references or otherwise attribute this information (please specify if your organisation requires that this information is attributed to your organisation instead of yourself).The final advice by the Committee will be published on the department’s website following the listing decision by the Minister.

Information provided through consultation may be subject to freedom of information legislation and court processes. It is also important to note that under the EPBC Act,the deliberations and recommendations of the Committee are confidential until the Minister has made a final decision on the nomination, unless otherwise determined by the Minister.

Euastacusdharawalus

FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish

Taxonomy

Conventionally accepted asEuastacusdharawalus Morgan, 1997.

SpeciesInformation

Description

The FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is a medium-sized, long-lived freshwater crayfish of the Euastacus genus. The Euastacus (spiny-shelled) and Cherax (smooth-shelled)genera form the two most specious groups of freshwater crayfish species in Australia, with Euastacus having the highest number of species, with 50 named by 2012 and this number is likely to increase (McCormack,2012).Euastacus crayfish are generally identified from other groups of Australian freshwater crayfish by having a spiny outer, often referred to as lateral, edge to their claws (McCormack, 2012). The FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish are commonly olive green or green in colour, sometimes brown, on the head and back, lightening to pale orange to cream on the underside (McCormack,2012).Claws are green with yellow or orange spotting on their edges, with purple tips. Individuals grow to at least 86mm occipital carapace length (OCL) (a standard measure unit for crayfish, which is defined as the length from between the eyes and end of main body segment) and 300g in weight (McCormack, 2012).

Distribution

The FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is only found in part of the WildesMeadow Creek catchment, asmall catchment which is a part of the ShoalhavenRiver catchment, a large, eastern-draining, river system which meets the sea on the south coast of New South Wales(McCormack,2012; NSWDPI, 2012, McCormack, 2013). Observational data from preliminary surveys undertaken between 2006 and 2011, as part of the Australian Crayfish Project,have found this species inthe main creekline of Wildes Meadow Creek and in all feeder streams from the permanent water to the headwater ephemeral areas (McCormack, 2013). Thespecies is only found within the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment above FitzroyFalls,which is an 80m drop on the main creeklinethat forms a natural barrier to: other, more aggressive species of freshwatercrayfish, including other related species of spiny crayfish such as the widely-distributed, southernlobster (E.yanga),and; eels,which inhabit the creek below the falls (McCormack, 2012 and 2013).Surveys of the surrounding catchments have detected other species of freshwater crayfish, including the southern lobster, the giant spiny crayfish (E.spinifer), the hairycrayfish (E.hirsutus) and the translocated Murray-Darling species (Cheraxdestructor) (McCormack, 2013) but not the FitzroyFalls spiny crayfish.

Thenaturally occurring distribution of the FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is limited to astretch of approximately 12km of waterway along Wildes Meadow Creek, of which 750m downstream of the FitzroyFalls Reservoir is considered high quality habitat for the species, as it is protected within the northern tip of Morton National Park (NSWDPI, 2012). 3.2km of the original creekline of Wildes Meadow Creek has been inundated by the FitzroyFalls Reservoir, which was constructed in 1974,and surveys have indicated that the species does not inhabit the reservoir (NSWFSC, 2011; McCormack, 2013). Theremainder of the waterway, upstream of the reservoir, is bordered by agricultural land (NSWFSC,2011).

Since the reservoir’s construction, there are now two populations of the species isolated from each other, one below the wall and one upstream of the reservoir water.Surveys have indicated that mainly smaller (likely immature) individuals inhabit the headwater and ephemeral feeder streams of the catchment system (McCormack, 2013).

Relevant Biology/Ecology

The FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is active day and night with peak activity in the late afternoon and early evening (McCormack, 2012). Observations have noted that adult burrows can be found just above or belowthe water line along the earthern banks of the creek, but only the burrows below the water line are inhabited and that individuals often wander for food outside their burrows during daylight (McCormack, 2012 and 2013).

Breeding starts with fertilisation in May and June, with females releasing juveniles in December (NSWFSC, 2011; McCormack,2012). Females are known to carry up to 500eggs, which are crimson or burgundy in colour. Notall females breed each year (McCormack, 2012 and 2013). Whilethere are no estimates of longevity, the species is likely to be relatively slow growing, given that most individuals inspected are generally dirty and prone to heavy commensal infestation (McCormack, 2012).The onset of sexual maturity is estimated to be between 5and 7years (McCormack, 2014).

Threats

The barrier to movement created by the concrete wall which forms the Fitzroy Falls Reservoir stops the two isolated populations of the species, below the wall and above the wall (and reservoir) from mixing (McCormack, 2013), hence acts as a threat to the species. Additionally, the 3.2km of stream length which has been inundated by the reservoir also acts as a barrier where there is no suitable habitat for the species.Recent sampling has not detected the species living in lentic habitats created by FitzroyFalls Reservoir, only finding individuals above and below the reservoir in flowing stream habitats (McCormack, 2013).

A likelythreat to the FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is competition and predation on juveniles from another species of crayfish not native to the region, the freshwateryabby (Cheraxdestructor) (Coughran etal., 2009). This threat has been noted in conservation assessments of the species and other scientific publications (Coughran and Furse, 2010; NSWDPI, 2011; McCormack,2012; McCormack, 2014). Both the freshwater yabby and the FitzroyFalls spiny crayfish attain a similar size and compete for the same food resources (McCormack, 2014).InNew South Wales, the freshwater yabby’s natural historical range occurs west of the Great Dividing Range but the species has been translocated and has established in eastern draining streams in the state. Thefreshwater yabby was first recorded in Wildes Meadow Creek above Fitzroy Falls in 2006 (Coughran etal., 2009). Surveysbetween 2006 and 2008 in Wildes Meadow Creek, below the reservoir and above the falls, collected increasing numbers of freshwater yabbies from 3 in 2006 to 73 in 2008 (Coughran etal., 2009). Inthe 2008 survey, it was observed that all of the FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish sampled displayed injuries consistent with aggressive competitive or predatory interactions with other crayfish (Coughran etal., 2009). Coughran etal. (2009) suggests that the reproductive traits of the freshwater yabby equip it to outcompete the endemic FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish.

Another likely threat to the FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is illegal fishing. While the species is a totally protected species in New South Wales and the use of yabby traps is not permitted in Wildes Meadow Creek (NSWDPI, 2014), it has been suggested that illegal recreational take of this species is seriously impacting the species (McCormack, 2012).

A potential threat to the juvenile FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish is predation by alien fish species. Fitzroy Falls Reservoir and Wildes Meadow Creek upstream of the reservoir are listed trout waters in New South Wales (NSWDPI, 2014). Alien rainbow trout (Oncorhynchusmykiss) have been stocked at a rate of between 5000 and 7500 fingerlings per annum in Fitzroy Falls Reservoir between 2005 and 2012 (NSWDPI, 2015).Trout predate on young individuals of another species of freshwater spiny crayfish, the alpinecrayfish (E.crassus) (Lintermans and Osborne, 2002). Aliencarp (Cyprinuscarpio) are also known to be in the reservoir (McCormack, 2013).

The native species, the Australianbass (Macquarianovemaculeata), which did not naturally occur in Wildes Meadow Creek above FitzroyFalls poses a potential threat to the juvenile Fitzroy Falls spinycrayfish as it is considered a predator of small freshwater crayfish, given that recreational fishers traditionally use small crayfish as bait when fishing for the species (McCormack, 2013). For the first time since before 2005,15 000 Australianbass were stocked into FitzroyFalls Reservoir over 2012/13 (NSWDPI, 2015). Juvenile FitzroyFalls spiny crayfish are likely to be particularly vulnerable to predation by Australian bass (McCormack, 2013).

It is considered that agricultural chemical usage within the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment is common, and herbicides are often used to control weeds along stream banks (McCormack, 2013).A laboratory experiment on redclawjuveniles (Cheraxquadricarinatus), another Australian species of freshwater crayfish, found that exposure to a glyphosate and polyoxyethyleneamine mixture, which are common major ingredients for herbicides used in Australia, slowed body-weight gain strongly correlated to a decrease in muscle protein levels led by a decrease in both glycogen and lipid reserves (Frontera etal., 2011).Reduction in growth rates caused by exposure to herbicide-like treatments containing glyphosphate and polyoxyethylenehas been observed in other studies of freshwater crustaceansspecies native to other parts of the world (Mensah etal., 2012; Frontera etal., 2014). The precise impact such agricultural chemicals are havingon the FitzroyFalls spiny crayfish is unclear,however it is possible that their use within Wildes Meadow Creek catchment is negatively impacting the species.

The smaller headwater and feeder streams of the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment have rural farm dams constructed across them, limiting the available habitat area and restricting water flow (McCormack, 2013). No reports of the species are known from these farm dams, and these restrict water flow in the feeder streams within the upper parts of the catchment (McCormack, 2013). From desktop analysis of recent topographical and satellite imagery maps for the area, at least 40farm dams or impoundments are located within the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment upstream of Fitzroy Falls Reservoir (DoL, 2006; GoogleMaps, 2015).The presence of stream flow seems to be important to the Fitzroy Falls spiny crayfish, as surveys indicate it does not utilise lentic waters and is restricted to parts of the catchment where there is flowing stream conditions (McCormack, 2013). Thepresence of these farm dams in the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment represents another potential threat to the species.

Other potential threats to the FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish are predation and habitat disturbance by exotic terrestrial species that have been found to generally impact on freshwater spiny crayfish,such as feral foxes (Green and Osborne, 1981; Carey etal., 2003) andferal pigs (A.Borshoom, pers.comm., cited in Eyre et al., 1997). Feral foxes and pigs are considered to occur in the northern part of MortonNational Park (NSWOEH, 2011), within the general vicinity of the rest of the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment.

In addition, the New South Wales Fisheries Scientific Committee’s listing determination in 2011 noted that riverregulation of water to Wildes Meadow Creek downstream of Fitzroy Falls Reservoir may potentially be impacting on the species (NSWFSC, 2011).

Another potential threat to the species is the damage to, or removal of, riparian vegetation. Amajority of the upstream habitat area within the Wildes Meadow Creek catchment has been cleared for agriculture, and feeder streams meander through grazing paddocks (McCormack, 2013). There are field observations of the burrows of the species, and the banks in which these occur, being impacted by stock trampling (McCormack, 2013). There are also observations of the effect of stock grazing on stream riparian vegetation on these stream banks (McCormack, 2013).

Assessment of available information in relation to the EPBC Act Criteria and Regulations

Criterion 1. Population size reduction (reduction in total numbers)
Population reduction (measured over the longer of 10 years or 3 generations) based on any of A1 to A4
Critically Endangered
Very severe reduction / Endangered
Severe reduction / Vulnerable
Substantial reduction
A1 / ≥ 90% / ≥ 70% / ≥ 50%
A2, A3, A4 / ≥ 80% / ≥ 50% / ≥ 30%
A1Population reduction observed, estimated, inferred or suspected in the past and the causes of the reduction are clearly reversible AND understood AND ceased.
A2Population reduction observed, estimated, inferred or suspected in the past where the causes of the reduction may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible.
A3Population reduction, projected or suspected to be met in the future (up to a maximum of 100 years) [(a) cannot be used for A3]
A4An observed, estimated, inferred, projected or suspected population reduction where the time period must include both the past and the future (up to a max. of 100 years in future), and where the causes of reduction may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible. / (a)direct observation [except A3]
(b)an index of abundance appropriate to the taxon
(c)a decline in area of occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or quality of habitat
(d)actual or potential levels of exploitation
(e)the effects of introduced taxa, hybridization, pathogens, pollutants, competitors or parasites

Evidence:

Abundance data over time for the FitzroyFalls spinycrayfish are limited. Observational data collected over the past 10years indicate that there could be a decline in abundance in the population that exists below the reservoir wall (between the base of the Fitzroy Falls Reservoir wall and the Fitzroy Falls). Surveys between 2006 and 2008 indicated a static population density of 1individual per 10lineal metres (lm) of steam length (McCormack, 2013). A survey undertaken in late-2011 indicated a population density of 1/80lm (McCormack, 2013), representing a suspected decline of at least 80% in the five years leading up to late-2011 of the below the reservoir population of the species. There has not been a similar decline recorded as yet for the population occurring above the reservoir (McCormack, 2013).