Chapter 3 North Carolina Species
the Coosa River Spiny Crayfish, each was ranked as a management priority by the Crayfish Taxa Team.
One native species, the White River Crawfish, is considered a management priority. It is native to the Piedmont and Coastal Plain but has been introduced to several basins in the Mountain region (likely through bait bucket dumps). Its effect on native crayfish populations is not known. Measures to address impacts from these introduced populations should be considered for the drainages where they have been introduced. The Red Swamp Crawfish is native to the lower Mississippi River Basin but is currently being raised as an aquaculture product in North Carolina. In 2012, five aquaculture farms in North Carolina produced approximately 8,685 pounds of this crayfish for consumption. It has been introduced to waters throughout the state and could pose a significant threat to native crayfish populations. The Kentucky River Crayfish has recently been introduced to western North Carolina where it has been found in the Little Tennessee River Basin. The Rusty Crayfish is another introduced species found in the Broad and Catawba River basins. Both species could pose a significant threat to native crayfish populations. The Virile Crayfish has been introduced in the Roanoke, Catawba, and Broad River basins and its effect on native crayfish populations is unknown. Long- term monitoring of the spread of this crayfish should be a high priority. 3.4.6 Threats and Problems Chapter 5 describes 11 categories of threats the Taxa Team considered during the evaluation and ranking of priority species and provides information about the expected scope and severity of their impacts to wildlife in North Carolina (see Appendix 5, as noted below). Results of Metric 9 evaluations indicate the threats most likely to have had significant impacts to crayfish populations in North Carolina over the next 10 years include the following:
• Pollution (see Appendix 5, Table 5.11-1) • Invasive and other problematic species (see Appendix 5, Table 5.10-1) • Residential and commercial development (see Appendix 5, Table 5.3-1) • Natural system modifications (see Appendix 5, Table 5.9-1) • Climate change and severe weather (see Appendix 5, Table 5.12-1) • Transportation and service corridors (see Appendix 5, Table 5.6-1) • Biological resource use (see Appendix 5, Table 5.7-1)
Over the next several decades, invasive species are predicted to increase extinction rates of native species significantly (Lodge et al. 2000a; Schochat et al. 2010; Richardson et al. 2015) . Introduced nonnative crayfish (i.e., the Coosa River Spiny, Kentucky River, Rusty, and Virile crayfishes, and the Red Swamp Crawfish) are a primary threat, followed by habitat loss, degradation, or alteration (Taylor et al. 2007; Simmons and Fraley 2010) . Nonnative crayfish have cleared streams of
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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