The crayfish is red listed and classified as acutely threatened in Swedish waters. In Västerbotten there is illegal transplantation of signal crayfish and this risks eradicating the crayfish completely.
- Transplanted signal crayfish wipe out the crayfish fishery. In addition, the chance that signal cancer can establish populations as far north as in Västerbotten is non-existent. So planting out signal cancer is both illegal and incredibly short-thinking, says Ulf Carlsson.
"River Cancer can become a memory only"Signal crayfish are carriers of cancer plague, a disease of which the crayfish lacks resistance and dies. In 2011, there was a large outbreak of cancer plague in the Ume River, which virtually knocked out all river crayfish.
- This was most likely due to someone dumping a bucket in the river with signal crayfish, and it then wiped out the entire population of the rivers, says Malin König, responsible for the action program for endangered species at the County Administrative Board of Västerbotten.
According to the county administrative board, it is urgent if the rivers will be saved.
- More outbreaks can lead to the event that the rivers will soon be a memory in Västerbotten, which would be a great loss both biologically and culturally, says Malin König.