Burrowing crayfish damage canal banks

British Waterways has been forced to use special measures to protect the Kennet and Avon Canal

BRITISH Waterways has been forced to use special measures to protect the Kennet and Avon Canal from damage by an invasive species of crayfish.

American Signal Crayfish, which are already competing with endangered native crayfish species, are now being blamed for causing extensive damage to the canal banks.

The crayfish burrow into the canals, using their tails as scoops and a senior engineer at British Waterways, David Berezynskyj, that it can affect the stability of the banks.

He said: “Some of these banks are like Swiss cheese.

“We need to act to avoid any serious damage and reduce the risk of the embankment breaching.”

He said that people from British Waterways, the organisation which cares for 2,200 miles of the country's canals and rivers, are now layering woven sheets of a strong, plastic-like material, called polypropylene, into the K&A canal banks as part of their dredging process, which is much more attractive than using steel banks.

The works, which will cost £250,000 and will take 10 weeks to complete, was started on January 21 and will see the canal bank from Hambridge Road to Bulls Lock and at Greenham Lock repaired and stabilised using material dredged from the canal.