La gestion des écrevisses exotiques envahissantes dans le département des Vosges The management of the intrusive crayfishes in the department of Vosges

Sur les neuf espèces d'écrevisses présentes en France, six sont des espèces introduites dont les conséquences sur l’environnement créent de profonds déséquilibres biologiques. Dans le département des Vosges, des actions spécifiques sont expérimentées, notamment auprès des propriétaires d’étangs pour tenter de lutter contre l’expansion des écrevisses introduites et ainsi préserver les dernières populations d’écrevisses natives. Since the end of the XIXth century, the distribution of crayfish in France has gone through deep changes, and the introduction of allochtonous crayfish, essentially from the North American continent, has forever changed the French and European crayfish landscape.The four surveys organised in France by ONEMA since 1977 allow following the evolution of the different species of crayfish present on the national territory, showing each time the large expansion of the exotic species and the recess of the native species.The situation of our three native species must now be considered as alarming.Two of these species, Austropotamobius torrentium and Astacus astacus, are close to extinction, and the third one, Austropotamobius pallipes, can now be found on the upmost parts of the watersheds, confined in areas and under the pressure of the exotic species which are still making their way further up.Pacifastacus leniusculus and Procamabrus clarkii are showing the strongest geographical expansion. Everywhere they appear to be very strong competitors, more aggressive, resistant to pathologies, able to colonize varied environments. They are indeed colonizing new departments, new watersheds, and thus eliminating native species.The rhythm of the illegal introductions seems to accelerate because new species, native of the American continent, were recently discovered: Orconectes juvenilis in the department of the Doubs and Orconectes immunis in the departement of the Bas-Rhin.In terms of management of these species, the actions are rather rare at the national level. However in the department of Vosges, specific actions are experimented, in particular with the owners of ponds to try to fight against the expansion of the introduced crawfishes and so to protect the last populations of native crawfishes.