Draining a water body offers a potential control of invasive crayfish by making the location uninhabitable. While some individuals may die as a result of such management, many species are able to tolerate exposure to the air and can walk to adjacent water bodies. A trial in the Czech Republic found that three successive drawdowns of a 0.16 ha pond, followed by hand removal, was not able to remove all signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus (Zozak & Policar 2002). In addition, a review reported that draining habitat can have a significant, short-term impact, reducing populations of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkia (Stebbing et al. 2012). However, it also reported that this approach causes significant impacts on natural habitats, is expensive, and does not lead to eradication.
Zozak P. & Policar, T. (2002) Practical elimination of signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana), from a pond. Pages 200-208 In: D.M. Holdich & P.J. Sibley (Eds.) Management and Conservation of Crayfish Proceedings of a conference held on 7th November 2002 at the Nottingham Forest Football Club, Nottingham, UK.
Stebbing P.D., Longshaw M., Taylor N., Norman R., Lintott R., Pearce F. & Scott A. (2012) Review of methods for the control of invasive crayfish in Great Britain. CEFAS. Contract C5471 final report. pp 105.
