Management Measures for Self-Propagated Future Recovery of Crawfish, Palinurus elephas, in Welsh Waters. dataset https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=007_NRW_DS114818 The crawfish, Palinurus elephas, is a large benthic crustacean found mainly on rocky seabeds from the Azores in the south to Norway in the North and throughout the Mediterranean. This species is commercially valuable and has been targeted by fisheries for over a century; however, fisheries in Wales and beyond have seen a steep decline in landings since the 1960s which coincided with the introduction of net fisheries for this species. The crawfish is a priority species for the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and is also an important component of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) designated for rocky reefs. It has been identified by the National Assembly for Wales as one of the species of "principal importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity" in Wales and is listed in the Natural Environment Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006. This act requires that steps be taken that are 'reasonably practicable to further the conservation of the living organisms' listed and to 'promote the taking by others of such steps'. It is therefore important to understand the potential impact of fisheries management measures and other management measures on the recovery of this species both in designated areas and within the wider context of Welsh waters as a whole including the potential impact of regulations or management measures in adjacent waters. The purpose of this data capture was to investigate management measures for the self-propagated future recovery of crawfish Palinurus elephas in Welsh waters. The overall aim of this survey and reporting work was to establish the potential effectiveness of existing and possible management measures (both fishery and nature conservation based) to enable self-propagated recovery of P. elephas populations in Welsh waters within the context of their declined status. This was to be carried out through a review of relevant literature on this and other crustacean species to determine using the best available data and information the potential benefit of the different management measures. 20120531