Hi guys ,firstly let me introduce my self,I'm an outdoors kinda guy who loves foraging and gathering whenever the chance comes along ,wines ,berries,fruit,fishing etc,and getting the kids outdoors is another bonus 😂,so hello to you all👍.I've had 2 attempts of getting a crayfish license and both times been declined ,both times because it's on canals or local rivers by the trust.penkridge canals the river penkridge, the river severn .Ive rang about 10-15 local fisheries around wolverhampton,bridgnorather, cannock and still no luck.I'm dying to get some of the buggers cooked up so any local info is great.Warwickshire and Coventry are to far to justify grabbing the crayfish .So please any ponds or reservoirs you know of shout up .
Crayfish westmidlands
- Thread starter Mat8739
- Start date
I have emailed a potential water so I will have to wait and see.i don't understand the canals and river trust decision to turn down my licence on the canal ,the signals far out way the natives,and destroy the banks,any ideas ?
Crayfish are the garbage cans of aquatic ecosystems and you want to eat them out of one of your canals?
Some BCUK members are not certain that the liquid in a canal is actually water.
Some BCUK members are not certain that the liquid in a canal is actually water.
There are huge issues with the disease they carry, and that those who take the crayfish aren't as careful as they ought to be to sterilise equipment, boots, etc., that they use. The disease is decimating the remaining populations of the native crayfish, and it's being spread by people.
The other major issue is the that the crayfish are cannibalistic. The big ones prey on the little ones. When the big ones are removed then a great many more (and mind that they are laid in the thousands) of the little ones survive to grow up to egg laying adulthood, devouring all other riverine small life as they do so.
If you didn't mention that you were aware of any of these issues, if you didn't come across as someone who would be careful, then I suspect that the licence would not be approved anyway.
Our local river fishermen have set traps, and they go through them often, smashing the signal crayfish and binning them, releasing any of the native ones they find.
They were originally brought into our area as food for a duckpond
except the numpty who brought them in didn't take care to keep them in the duckpond and they simply walked out and into the feeder tributary of the upper River Clyde.
A whole ecosystem in turmoil because of one thoughtless individual's duck food
M
The other major issue is the that the crayfish are cannibalistic. The big ones prey on the little ones. When the big ones are removed then a great many more (and mind that they are laid in the thousands) of the little ones survive to grow up to egg laying adulthood, devouring all other riverine small life as they do so.
If you didn't mention that you were aware of any of these issues, if you didn't come across as someone who would be careful, then I suspect that the licence would not be approved anyway.
Our local river fishermen have set traps, and they go through them often, smashing the signal crayfish and binning them, releasing any of the native ones they find.
They were originally brought into our area as food for a duckpond
except the numpty who brought them in didn't take care to keep them in the duckpond and they simply walked out and into the feeder tributary of the upper River Clyde.A whole ecosystem in turmoil because of one thoughtless individual's duck food
M
Best bet would be to fly over to see santaman in the states! Get onto the board of disease control as a voulenteer. I think you will have to do a lot of work for your reward though.
Is it not completely illegal at present to fish for crayfish without the say so from the environment agency?
Is it not completely illegal at present to fish for crayfish without the say so from the environment agency?
Yup, always has been as far as I know. Only exception to that is if you own a fish farm or you an employee of one then you don't need a licence but still have to use approved traps.
You can apply for a licence but you need the landowners permission plus the permission of any angling club who might lease the fishing rights from the landowner
