Crayfish

[goldfinger 135]

Just had a reply back from the Environment agency after filling in an application permit to catch crayfish in the River Rother Sheffield area,they replied by e.mail say that they do not allow trapping of crayfish except for scientific purposes in Yorkshire waters and surrounding counties,what a load of crap no wonder they are overtaking British waterways no one can touch them.Full reply on request.

[byron 1,190]

heaving with em in  in the river bain lincs..

[goldfinger 135]

This was there reply.

Dear applicant

Thank you for your application to trap signal crayfish. Unfortunately on this occasion we must decline your application.

Yorkshire and its surrounding counties do not allow crayfish trapping due to risks associated with the activity.

The three main reasons for this decision are....

• The risk of spreading invasive crayfish and aquatic diseases through the use of traps and other equipment.

 

Traps and associated equipment are excellent vectors for invasive crayfish and aquatic diseases to reach new waters. As they are usually left unattended underwater, they can be taken by uninformed or malicious parties and used between waters easily by people who are unaware of the bio-security risks.

 

• Impacts on our native White-clawed crayfish populations

 

In Yorkshire we are lucky to still have populations of White-clawed crayfish and despite intense conservation efforts the species is still under threat.

 

Signal crayfish can carry a disease which is fatal to our native White-clawed crayfish. This crayfish plague is spread by a fungus which can wipe out a population in a matter of weeks.

 

There is also the risk of misidentification of species. Although crayfish can be distinctive, it is sometimes not as easy as it seems to identify species correctly.

 

• Trapping crayfish is often not an effective method of control and often leads to an increase in populations

 

Research has shown that trapping signal crayfish targets the dominant males, this removes the top predator from within the signal crayfish population. This allows younger less dominant males to breed more prolifically, leading to a population expansion. Trapping is therefore often counterproductive.

 

[Greyman 29,247]

Sadly I have to agree with the last paragraph as waters that get trapped on regularly seem to be over run were as waters left alone seem to find a balance,  but I,ve ate hundreds and never thought I should seek anyone's permission to harvest a few nice meals or get a permit, are you looking at making money from it or just feeding yourself, if it's the latter just go for it, the former you will struggle to sell them without the permits good luck and enjoy 

[goldfinger 135]

5 hours ago, Greyman said:

Sadly I have to agree with the last paragraph as waters that get trapped on regularly seem to be over run were as waters left alone seem to find a balance,  but I,ve ate hundreds and never thought I should seek anyone's permission to harvest a few nice meals or get a permit, are you looking at making money from it or just feeding yourself, if it's the latter just go for it, the former you will struggle to sell them without the permits good luck and enjoy 

Personal consumption only.

[Greyman 29,247]

I,ve caught loads at night by just putting a landing net in the water and baiting with trout pellet or luncheon meat leave for half an hour and lift it out, depending how infested your water is a couple of dips is usually a pan full  and no illegal trapping,though casting a spinner at the commercial pots and reeling them in is much quicker

[Deker 3,478]

I'm not really following, there normal excuse is down to native inhabitants, but I have heard about this reasoning as well recently.

Fortunately I'm fine down this area, got my ticket and tags no problem, and there are a lot about round here!

 

[bell 3,606]

 

I think their reasoning is that if you take the large ones then the smaller ones have a greater chance of survival (as they are not predated on by the large ones) and hence the population explodes.........although if you keep all you catch and including the little ones which could be ‘eliminated’ then surely the population decreases !