Saturday 18 August 2018

I Guess We Have All Heard Of Invasive Species,

that is a plant, animal, bird, whatever,


 that is forcing the native species out, well here is a novel way of dealing with them, put them on the menu and eat them! that is what Berliners are being asked to do with Louisiana crawfish, that have taken hold of of Berlin's rambling Tiergarten park, local man  Klaus Hidde has taken on the task of catching them and trying to get the locals to eat them, Hidde and his son are the only people licensed to catch thousands of Louisiana crawfish that have invaded the waters of two parks in Berlin, this is the third year Louisiana crawfish have been seen in Berlin, 

 above Klaus atwork, city wildlife officer Derk Ehlert says when crawfish first appeared, the city released eels into the waterways, hoping they'd catch the crawfish and eat them, but then the next year, there were still 3,000 crawfish in the parks, this year there are 10 times as many and they seem to be spreading, crawfish are not entirely foreign to Germany, but the Louisiana crawfish, Procambarus clarkia, crowd out the native Astacus astacus European variety and carry a disease that kills them, 

Louisiana crawfish have become a familiar problem elsewhere in the world too, they have invaded Egypt, Kenya and South Africa, as well as Michigan, and a species of Washington State crawfish threatens trout in Scotland, there, authorities caught and killed the crawfish, to avoid creating a market for them, Hidde acknowledges it may be impossible to clear all the invasive crawfish out of the waters of the two parks he has targeted, He finds five Louisiana crawfish for every Berlin crustacean, he hopes his culinary fishing mission might at least hold the line and protect the rest of Germany's waters, what a neat idea, eating the enemy, forward thinking about the UK, does anyone fancy a grey squirrel burger, or how about a roast Canadian goose? Yummy!


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