00:00With long claws and a bright hard-shelled body, you might think spiny crayfish dominate
00:07our inland waterways and scientific research, but that's not the case.
00:12We just don't know anything about their population structure.
00:15There is no data that exists out here.
00:17Deep in the Royal National Park near Appen, a small team of scientists from the NSW Department
00:22of Climate Change are trying to fix that.
00:24We could see a population decline in freshwater crayfish which could really have really detrimental
00:31effects on the ecosystem because they do hold those keystone roles.
00:35While they can be feisty, crayfish are an important source of food for frogs, fish and
00:41even platypus.
00:42By setting up a catch and release system, the group will take note on the animal's
00:46sex and size.
00:48What we'll do is attack acoustic transmitters to these crayfish and we'll get some movement
00:52data using those.
00:54It's a tedious process the team will replicate downstream of Greater Sydney and the Illawarra's
00:59largest dams, and then re-evaluate this time next year.
01:03In this area we're at Sydney's drinking water catchment, so water quality is very important.
01:06So we want to understand if there are things that are changing the quality of the water.
01:11So we then might look at if there are changes, what's causing it.
01:15The Royal National Park is surrounded by mines and small towns.
01:19If results show crayfish are being impacted by these developments, the team wants to take
01:23a closer look at the catchment's water-sharing plan.
01:27That could mean some changes to when people can take water and how much.
01:31Crayfish are not only really cute to me, but they're just super important to protect.
01:36A first-of-its-kind wellbeing check on these clawsome creatures.
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