Following the rapid spread of the cancer plague, the county administrative board decided in 2008 to save the water that remained in the county. But the landowners and fishery owners were worried that the protective marking would, on the contrary, attract poachers. And the county administrative board did not want the cancer's downfall on their conscience and therefore failed to sign.

- It is only with a few individual crayfish in each lake, says Per-Erik Larsson on the County Administrative Board. Photo: SVT

Not completely extinct

The Swedish river cancer is not completely extinct in Östergötland, although it lives on a thinning existence.

- There are only a few crayfish in each lake, says Per-Erik Larsson, former fisheries consultant at the County Administrative Board in Östergötland.

The crayfish remained in between 20 and 30 lakes when the county inventory was made 12 years ago.

- But there was only one lake that had enough people to fish.

Hope to get it back

There are those who hope that the crayfish will be catchable again and the county administrative board receives about one application per year to plant the crayfish.

- Very recently we received an application from an archipelago island, where it will be released this spring, says Per-Erik Larsson.