Signal crayfish

jimbo1984

Well-Known Member
Hi gents while recovering from an accident and having a lot if time on my hands my thoughts have been towards my stomach :) lol a friend of mine used to trap crayfish nearby and I fancied getting some myself I just wondered if anybody here does so and if there were and restrictions removing invasive crayfish from a river?
Atb jim
 
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Hi gents while recovering from an accident and having a lot if time on my hands my thighs have been towards my stomach :) lol a friend of mine used to trap crayfish nearby and I fancied getting some myself I just wondered if anybody here does so and if there were and restrictions removing invasive crayfish from a river?
Atb jim

You will need a license from the Environment Agency, who will want to know where you are going to trap them.

Environment Agency - Apply for a consent to trap non-native crayfish

​willie_gunn
 
Hi Jim i have been trapping signal crays for a long time now and rightly or wrongly believe that it is illegal if caught to return them. Always had permission on the waters I trap but not sure about any licence restrictions. All I know is they taste good! Good luck with your recovery atb John
 
Thanks for the replies gents I'll look into the licensing , an older gentleman used to trap them close to here but he's passed away so I'm not too sure of the exact location but from what I gather they're pretty widespread
 
Thanks for the replies gents I'll look into the licensing , an older gentleman used to trap them close to here but he's passed away so I'm not too sure of the exact location but from what I gather they're pretty widespread

They are indeed widespread (and tasty) but if you check the first link I posted you will see that getting a license in the North is likely to be more problematic than in the South :(

willie_gunn
 
They are indeed widespread (and tasty) but if you check the first link I posted you will see that getting a license in the North is likely to be more problematic than in the South :(

willie_gunn
Ah yes so it seems :( still I suppose I can try for nowt :)
thanks for the info Willie much appreciated :)
​jim
 
The damned things are widespread in Devon, but they don't like acidic rivers thank god.
Get a licence and catch and eat as many as you can, just make sure you don't kill our native crayfish, if there are any left that is!
Good luck and get well soon.
Cheers
​Richard
 
i catch quite a few and yes they are tasty but they are also a lot of hard work shelling them as you only get a tiny peice of meat from each crayfish tail but if you are going to give it a go this year you will have have to act fast as they go dormant in the winter, traps are readily avalible on-line and a peice of fish (mackrel generaly) has always worked well as bait for me good luck
 
I applied for a permit and was told I would have to set at least a hundred traps and do it as a commercial venture. They would not allow any public a permit to catch for the pot even though they want rid of the signal crayfish.
Apparently if the water is only trapped on a small scale then this allows the invaders to be more successful in taking over the water. Not sure how as I didn't stay on the phone much longer.
Be very careful if you plan on trapping some as most waterways are observed and if they find a trap without the necessary registration number on it you could find yourself in sticky water so to speak, certainly not worth getting a conviction for which you will have to disclose on your firearms renewal. I knew someone who used to use an old bicycle wheel with a bit of net attached and fasten a piece of road kill to the centre. 3 lengths of wire attached to the wheel and joined a foot or so above the wheel and a single string attached to this long enough to be able to sit on the bank side and wait. The wheel was lowered into the water and he said you can see the crayfish on the net eating the bait after a short time but I suppose that depends on how concentrated they are in that area. Then simply pull the net up and the crayfish are yours.
 
Son has just dropped me 20 off, the river near him is overflowing with them, having a nice feast this eve. He just puts akeep net in the water with tuna and then there is a free for all with literally dozens fighting for it.
 
My mate mentioned Crayfish to me today, I don't think we have many in Cornwall. Does anyone know of somewhere we can go and catch a load, preferably in Southwest England? My mate is pretty keen to bag a load......also, does anyone know if they can be frozen? (to be eaten later)
Cheers
 
My mate mentioned Crayfish to me today, I don't think we have many in Cornwall. Does anyone know of somewhere we can go and catch a load, preferably in Southwest England? My mate is pretty keen to bag a load......also, does anyone know if they can be frozen? (to be eaten later)
Cheers
River Yeo and Creedy near Crediton, but you will need a licence and permission from the landowner, i know a landowner who applied but they were refused a licence.
Cheers
Richard
 
River Yeo and Creedy near Crediton, but you will need a licence and permission from the landowner, i know a landowner who applied but they were refused a licence.
Cheers
Richard

Thanks for that Richard, I just googled River Yeo Crayfish and found an interesting website with lots of info on crayfish www.buglife.org.uk
according to their website the Environment Agency has pulled the plug on funding for the conservation of the native White-clawed crayfish :eek:
and we now have water over most of the southwest, making it easy for the signals to spread
I find it odd that they refused someone a license in a sensitive area like this.........:confused:
FROM THE WEBSITE:
 
Where are we now?
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]In recent years considerable effort has gone in to preventing the extinction of the White-clawed crayfish, and in to developing Ark Sites as a conservation tool.
In 2012 there were 21 White-clawed crayfish conservation projects in progress in England (information collated by Buglife as part of the development of the UK Crayfish website, in partnership with the Environment Agency). These projects were contacted by Buglife in 2013 as part of a review into crayfish conservation activity in England, and of the nine projects that responded, only two are now funded – these are both catchment restoration projects and only one of these has a focus on White-clawed crayfish. The majority of the project which did not respond were fixed term projects and so it is assumed that these have been completed and have not received further funding.
The only two projects that we are aware of that are funded, and are directly conserving White-clawed crayfish are the Eden catchment restoration project, and the Hampshire Southern Chalk Streams project – although the latter is greatly reduced in capacity as it has lost its main funding from the Environment Agency.
The Environment Agency has taken a lead role in White-clawed crayfish conservation in the past, and although that level of involvement has gradually reduced, until the more recent cuts the Agency was still leading or at least a major partner in most of the projects. Of the 22 projects listed in 2012, 13 were funded by the Environment Agency, Natural England or Defra. In most of these cases the Environment Agency was the significant funder.
Not only has there been a reduction in funding from the Environment Agency, there has also been a reduction in funding for species conservation work by Natural England/English Nature over the last decade and two of the most significant sources of funding for Ark Site work – The BBC Wildlife Fund and the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund – no longer exist.
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[/FONT] 
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]Funding for White-clawed crayfish conservation has reduced so drastically that it appears that in 2014 there will be no projects directly saving White-clawed crayfish populations

Without funding, we risk losing populations in the Lam Brook, By Brook, Little Avon, Creedy Yeo and River Culm in the next five years – this would mean the extinction of the species in Devon. And many more populations are at risk in the longer term.



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License required to trap, great to eat, non natives must not be released back, always release native species, throw into a pot of salted boiling water for 5-10, remove allow to cool for another 5 & serve with a little chilli dipping sauce or homemade lemon mayo....delic:thumb:
 
Caught some in Hampshire two years ago trousers rolled up bucket in hand boiled them on barby at keepers house blooming grand to eat :drool:
 
How about if I set traps to catch eels and then keep any of the signal crayfish I "accidentally" catch?
don't suppose I'd need a special license to catch them by accident :cool:
 
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