Crayfish locations!?

[davey w]

I know where you are coming from with that Johnny and I realise I didn't word my post particularly well in relation to licences for catching non native crayfish in Scotland.

An order made under the Import of Live Fish (Scotland) Act 1978 makes it an offence to keep or release non-native crayfish. This means that it is / would be an offence to trap non-native crayfish without a license (as they would then be in a persons possession).

However licenses are not as a rule provided for this purpose and illegal harvesting is one of the main causes of spread of crayfish. The problem legally and ecologically with people trapping and eating crayfish is that some then think it's a good idea to introduce them to new ponds and streams so that they can do the same!


Sadly even among our own community not everyone has ecological morals.

not to kill all crayfish johnny,just the invasive signal crayfish i think youll find mate...we want to keep all our indigeneous ones

 

[Charlessroyal]

I used these places last time for my trips. I like to be stay here

 

[Robson Valley]

Adze, that was a great contribution. Thank you.
As Britain' aquatic ecology got along without Signal Crayfish in the past, they are an introduced alien species, I'm a big supporter of wholesale eradication.
Plus, they taste good.
At the very worst, manage the species through correct identification, possible size limits and catch quotas.

 

[Adze]

Adze, that was a great contribution. Thank you.
As Britain' aquatic ecology got along without Signal Crayfish in the past, they are an introduced alien species, I'm a big supporter of wholesale eradication.
Plus, they taste good.
At the very worst, manage the species through correct identification, possible size limits and catch quotas.

Cheers RV. Wholesale eradication, sadly, isn't a viable option. The larval stage of the signal cray is tiny and hugely prolific (millions per square metre) so even if you manage to remove all the adults and non-larval juveniles, there's a huge reserve waiting in the wings. About the only way to clean a water system is complete sterilization and reintroduction of a native ecosystem.

Springwatch ( I think) had a section about it last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qImSSqYh298

 

[Klenchblaize]

[video]http://www.mcqbushcraft.co.uk/2015/11/off-road-recovery-crayfish-basket-trap/[/video]

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Hm_CGvUR8[/video]

 

[Robson Valley]

OK. Just my attitude! Crop them off as fast as you can go, even if it turns into a sustained yield effort.
Hoisin/honey/garlic crayfish anyone? I've got the burner and base for a lobster pot. Just need a weak excuse
to buy the pot. Maybe we get 10-20lbs crays in there?

We used to wade near the shoreline of a big lake at night. The crayfish like to sit on the tops of the rocks.
Find them with a spotlight, pick them up and into the pail. No more meat that the size of your little finger at best.
30 of those and a beer at midnight was quite a bedtime snack.

 

[mrcharly]

I believe that the adults eat the larvae - if you eradicate adults from an area, there is then an explosion in juvenile numbers. Best solution seems to be careful control of numbers, leaving some adults.

 

[Adze]

I believe that the adults eat the larvae - if you eradicate adults from an area, there is then an explosion in juvenile numbers. Best solution seems to be careful control of numbers, leaving some adults.

They are cannibalistic, however, the smaller juveniles can and are eaten by fish and other aquatic predators. The larger adults are pretty much only predated upon by humans and otters, they're generally too large for anything else native in the UK to tackle. The smaller juveniles also eat the larvae. The only way they reach any sort of balance in the UK is once they've consumed more or less everything else and are forced to become solely cannibalistic. They're able to survive on anything aquatic and a good deal that isn't - plant, insect and animal matter all end up as crayfish protein. In fact, one of the best baits for them, as it's easy to sew into a drop net and therefore very difficult for the larger crays to drag off, is a cat food pouch. It puts a good stink into the water to draw them in too.

 

[Ferret75]

I looked into it in the Staffordshire area as I knew several areas that were well overrun with nuisance species and applied for a trapping licence (not transportation), giving upstream and downstream grid refs, target species and trap dimensions. Unfortunately the crayfish in that area were 'not for consumption,' as the fisheries official email stated, on any stretch of river I was looking at and with no specific reasons given. Also I could not find any research projects happening in that area that might explain this, although the fishing club on that stretch were killing them whenever they were caught. The fisheries dept were helpful in giving me sites that were available, but they were very few and far between and such a long distance away as to make travel and frequent trap checking unviable.

I'm still planning on applying again this year in case the situation has changed at all, and intend on including Derbyshire and it's borders. I gave one trap away and have one left to hopefully get some use out of! As some have mentioned already, its important to clean everything you use every time you use it and with the correct eco sensitive chemicals if you are considering fishing any two or more waterways or pools, so as not to transport larvae or disease between sites. And as obvious as it seems, know your crayfish identifying features, as I believe there are actually 9 or so separate species across Europe and the UK.



Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[EddieP]

When I did this I used the ea (or maybe defra) licence document to find areas that are so over run no licence is needed. That's a good starting point.

Then I got lucky with a game keeper mate who had a pond full of them. We caught them on a line bated with rabbit. After a slow start it was easier than shooting fish in a barrel, with them walking up the bank towards us like a b movie.

 

[LiveAndrew]

anywhere in cornwall???

I've never had any luck in Cornwall. I guess we're not exactly overflowing with rivers. Then again we have the sea!

 

[jason83]

Anybody know of sites around Grimsby I'm after a couple of traps and applying but need to know if it's worth it first, thanks in advance.