Impact of a new freshwater invader: the Bloody-red Shrimp 
 

Hemimysis has recently invaded the Shannon catchment

Project code 

QU09-07

Manager

Dr. Neil Reid

PhD Student

Kevin Gallagher

Supervisor(s)

Drs. Chris Harrod, Jaime Dick & Cathy Maguire

Client & Funding

NIEA (via NHRP)

Client Officer(s)

John Early

Collaborator(s)

Dr. Joe Caffery (Central Fisheries Board)
Shannon Regional Fisheries Board 
Dr. Robert Rosell (AFBI)
Dr. Dirk Platvoet (University of Amsterdam) 
Dr. Dan Minchin, ( Ecoserve )

Start date

01/07/2009

End date

30/06/2010

The invasive and ecologically damaging bloody-red shrimp (Hemimysis anomala), a mysid native to the Black and Caspian Seas region, has recently invaded Loughs Derg and Ree in the Shannon Catchment in the Republic of Ireland.  

Hemimysis is likely to have major impacts on freshwater ecosystems through voracious predation of macroinvertebrates and competition with native keystone species such as the opossum shrimp (Mysis relicta). This is like to effect priority fish communities including Annex II species such as eel, pollan, lamprey, Arctic char, brown trout and Atlantic salmon as well as other groups, such as diving ducks, which are subject to Special Area of Conservation (SAC) objectives. Consequently, Invasive Species Ireland identified Hemimysis as a high risk potential invader.  

Northern Ireland is at imminent risk of invasion by this species given the connection with, and high boating traffic between, the Shannon and Erne waterways.

Given the implications for conservation objectives including the EU Habitats Directive and Water Framework Directive, there is a clear and urgent need for a rapid response to this invader on a cross-jurisdictional all-Ireland basis. There are no effective control measures for many freshwater invertebrates, so the aim must be prevention of further spread and establishment in new waterbodies.  

This specific aims of this project are to:  

  1. Establish baseline distribution and abundance data for the Shannon system;
  2. Establish reference collection of specimens for identification and training;
  3. Facilitate early detection in NI by knowledge transfer to NIEA (WMU), DCAL, DARD Fisheries, AFBI;
  4. Conduct laboratory experiments to quantify the impact of Hemimysis including predation and competition; 
  5. Develop an initial assessment of the likely impact of Hemimysis on priority fish communities.

This project is funded by the NIEA under the Natural Heritage Research Partnership (NHRP).

This project is funded by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) under the Natural Heritage Research Partnership (NHRP).