Australian freshwater crayfish exploitation by fishing and aquaculture

[Extract] The Australian freshwater crayfish fauna includes over 100 species of Parastacidae, a family of freshwater crayfish with Gondwanan distribution. There ae nine genera that cover a wide ecological diversity including burrowing forms, Engaeus, Engaewa, Gramastacus, Parastacoides and Geocherax, genera containing the world’s largest species of freshwater crayfish Astacopsis and Euastacus, and the widely distributed genus Cherax. Freshwater crayfish have been exploited by Aboriginal Australians for thousands of years. In the Murray-Darling Basin, remains (especially gastroliths) of River Murray crayfish Euastacus armatus and yabbies Cherax destructor are common in middens around Aboriginal sites