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Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium
Citation
Devisscher S, Adriaens T, Brosens D, Desmet P (2021): Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium. v1.8. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Dataset/Occurrence. https://doi.org/10.15468/eakzzv

Access data
Archived data
Availability: CC0 To the extent possible under law, the person who associated CC0 with this dataset has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this dataset.

Notes: To allow anyone to use this dataset, we have released the data to the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero waiver. We would appreciate however, if you read and follow these norms for data use and provide a link to the original dataset whenever possible. If you use these data for a scientific paper, please cite the dataset following the applicable citation norms and/or consider us for co-authorship. We are always interested to know how you have used or visualized the data, or to provide more information, so please contact us via the contact information provided in the metadata, opendata@inbo.be or https://twitter.com/LifeWatchINBO.

Description
Invasive species - Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Flanders, Belgium is a species occurrence dataset published by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). The dataset contains over 6,000 occurrences (Chinese mitten crab exclusively) sampled between 2000 and now. The data are compiled from different monitoring initiatives at the INBO. The Chinese mitten crab is listed as a species of EU concern sensu the EU regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS). This requires member states to report on the status of such species. more

Taxonomic coverage: This is a monospecies dataset: all records are Chinese mitten crabs (Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853).
Sampling methods: Most of the Chinese mitten crabs were caught using double fyke nets in rivers and surface waters. These nets sample the lower 50 cm of the water column. The nets are placed parallel to the river's bank, as opposed to normal fyke nets that are placed at a 90° angle to the bank. Mitten crabs were mostly recorded as bycatch of fish monitoring or riverine/estuarine research projects. In most cases, the number of crabs per fyke was recorded, but for high density locations, the density was recorded as the net weight of crabs caught. Counts and weights are not included in this dataset and are available upon request.
Study extent: This dataset is compiled from various data sources (research projects, monitoring programmes, unpublished dataset) available at the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). Because many of these studies/projects are small, we chose to extract Chinese mitten crab occurrences from the original (mostly formerly unpublished) datasets and compile them into this dataset. Differens surveys were used to compile this dataset: Survey N° occurrences {"projectName":Volunteer data} 1797 {"projectName":Diverse Locaties} 133 {"projectName":Estuaria vanaf 2013} 230 {"projectName":Estuaria} 430 {"projectName":Evaluatie van visdoorgangen in Vlaamse waterlopen} 13 {"projectName":Moneos} 3 {"projectName":Referentiemeetnet} 44 {"projectName":Verdichtingsmeetnet} 6 {"projectName":VIS} 71 {"projectName":Visbestand stilstaande waters} 2 {"projectName":Visbestand} 33 {"projectName":Vismigratie Merelbeke} 71 {"projectName":Visnevengeulen van Asper en Oudenaarde in de Bovenschelde } 3649 {"projectName":Vrijwilliger data} 2 {"projectName":W&Z project} 29 {"projectName":Zeeschelde} 96
Quality Control: Fieldwork was mostly performed by professionals (trained experts or researchers) of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO). However, 1797 records represent volunteer data from a validated citizen science project on the occurrence of fish in the Scheldt estuary. In this case, captures were performed by trained volunteers and data were subject to validation by the researcher involved.
Purpose: Native to the Pacific coasts of China and Korea, Chinese mitten crabs arrived in European waters in the early 1900s and are believed to have been introduced via ship's ballast water and, possibly, intentionally released to establish fisheries (Marquard 1926, Peters et al. 1933, Gollasch 2006). Since its arrival in Germany, the species has rapidly invaded coastal and inland waters throughout Europe. It was first recorded in Belgium in 1933 in the Zeeschelde near Antwerp (Wouters 2002, Boets 2013). Based on recent observations, it is now common in Flanders (Messiaen 2010), in flowing as well as still waters, where it is benefitting from improved water quality (Kerckhof et al. 2007, Stevens 2010). In the last few years, the species has increased in distribution area and numbers, and is now colonizing inland waters. The Scheldt estuary is the most important invasion route, where its numbers seem to have stabilized in recent years (unpublished data, INBO). The seasonal upstream migration of mitten crabs has become a well known phenomenon in Flanders (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSBqwufl3pA), but its impact in the region is not well known. The Chinese mitten crab is listed as a species of EU concern sensu the EU regulation 1143/2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS). This regulation requires member states to set up surveillance and early warning, as well as rapidly eradicate new introductions of a selection of IAS. Additionally, it requires member states to set up management programmes for widely established species and to evaluate and report on the progress of these programmes. To do this, baseline data on the distribution of selected IAS are needed, which is one of the reasons we are publishing these data.
Issues with the dataset can be reported here.
The publication of this dataset was supported by the INBO as part of the Flemish contribution to LifeWatch.

Scope
Themes:
Biology > Invertebrates
Keywords:
Fresh water, Alien species, Invasive species, Observation, Belgium, Flanders, Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853

Geographical coverage
Belgium, Flanders [Marine Regions]

Temporal coverage
From 1 September 2000 on [In Progress]

Taxonomic coverage
Eriocheir sinensis H. Milne Edwards, 1853 [WoRMS]

Parameter
Occurrence of biota

Contributors
Vlaamse overheid; Beleidsdomein Omgeving; Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO), moredata creator

Project
LifeWatch: Flemish contribution to LifeWatch.eu, more
Funding FWO Strategic Basic Research (SBO)

Dataset status: In Progress
Data type: Data
Data origin: Data collection
Metadatarecord created: 2017-06-27
Information last updated: 2021-07-13
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