american red signal crayfish

[Dexter's Shed]

not trying to teach any grandmothers to suck eggs

but does anyone here catch crayfish?

as a pest controller I was Introduced to these a number of years ago by a shooting buddy, he took me and the wife and kids to a stretch of river alongside a canal, and we had a great day catching rather a lot of crayfish, I was hooked so to speak, so started thinking BIGGER....

we had been using small crab drop nets, after looking at what I had in the shed, I used 27" bicycle wheels with the spokes removed, to make eight large drop nets, I contacted the environmental agency and got tags for my drop nets and a 4yr cover on a couple of miles of water, all free of charge, I will need to renew my tags now as they taste great, and are classed as the poor man's lobster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so there we were, bringing home crayfish in the hundreds, your not allowed to put back once caught as they are non native to the UK, a few people I know sell them to the local chinese take away shops, cooking them on the cooker was a bit time consuming, so I sourced a crayfish boiling pot from america and had it shipped over, coupled up with a propane gas ring it made light work of cooking

 

if removing them from flowing waters, they can be boiled and eaten pretty much straight away, if removing them from standing waters, ponds etc, it's best to purge them for a day or two, and use salt to cleanse the mud from them

 

[Jerra]

NO I have no experience of Signal Crayfish apart from seeing one once. However I would very much like to see their numbers reduced because of the threat to our native crayfish.

 

I assume you jump through all the hoops required for fishing for them? They appear to be mainly there to ensure the EA get info about size of population and distribution not to mention protecting species such as Otters from drowning.

[Tecka]

Fair play for the effort in getting rid of these blights to our native White Clawed.

 

I managed the restoration of the Lambourn through urban Newbury until 4 years ago, fantastic project and the EA were hugely helpful in licencing for wildflower meadow, path improvement works and releasing brown trout into the river with primary school kids. Strangely though, even though the signal issue was recognised I struggled to get a licence to deal with them.

 

I never 100% confirmed but always felt that a local business in Thatcham may have had something to do with it.

 

 

They appear to be mainly there to ensure the EA get info about size of population and distribution not to mention protecting species such as Otters from drowning.

 

My understanding is the hoops / registration is to ensure that no white clawed are taken by accident rather than distribution of signal. I may be wrong in thinking that.

[Jerra]

My understanding is the hoops / registration is to ensure that no white clawed are taken by accident rather than distribution of signal. I may be wrong in thinking that.

I am basing the idea on two things the need (last time I read the regs) to report catches etc and the fact they are more than pleased to get reports by anyone about what they have spotted and where.

 

What I read also specifically mentioned a design to use and the fact some designs trap and drown Otters.

 

I might of course be barking up the wrong tree.

[Tecka]

I am basing the idea on two things the need (last time I read the regs) to report catches etc and the fact they are more than pleased to get reports by anyone about what they have spotted and where.

 

What I read also specifically mentioned a design to use and the fact some designs trap and drown Otters.

 

I might of course be barking up the wrong tree.

Either of us could be. I know there is an issue with poorly designed traps, there is a strange double pyramid design which is best practice.

 

It more than likely is a bit of both, catching whites at the same time as signal doesn't help and it will always help knowing what the distribution actually is.

 

Main point is the op is helping both the natural species of our rivers and himself. Signal are good eating!

[Dexter's Shed]

 

 

I assume you jump through all the hoops required for fishing for them?

no, as it's not fishing, the definition of fishing is a rod and a line, drop nets are simply that, drop a flat net in, wait a few minutes and lift out (it's baited with meat) so no fishing license needed

y school kids.

, even though the signal issue was recognised I struggled to get a licence to deal with them.

 

 

 

 

My understanding is the hoops / registration is to ensure that no white clawed are taken by accident rather than distribution of signal. I may be wrong in thinking that.

if our native signals have been reported in the same area, a license would never be issued, once in possession of the tags, you don't need to inform the EA of anything

[RLWP]

no, as it's not fishing, the definition of fishing is a rod and a line, drop nets are simply that, drop a flat net in, wait a few minutes and lift out (it's baited with meat) so no fishing license needed

 

Quite right - you need a special license: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/permission-to-trap-crayfish-eels-elvers-salmon-and-sea-trout

 

 

 

Crayfish trap authorisation

You must not trap non-native crayfish without written consent from the Environment Agency (EA) in England or Natural Resources Wales in Wales.

• Application to trap crayfish (PDF, 301KB, 2 pages)

You also need permission from the landowner and any relevant angling clubs.

If you trap crayfish without written permission you could be prosecuted.

 

Richard

Edited November 29, 2015 by RLWP

[Jerra]

no, as it's not fishing, the definition of fishing is a rod and a line, drop nets are simply that, drop a flat net in, wait a few minutes and lift out (it's baited with meat) so no fishing license needed

Strange the EA seem to think you do.

 

If you don't need authorisation (a licence in my terms) why does

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/permission-to-trap-crayfish-eels-elvers-salmon-and-sea-trout

 

Say authorisation is free?

[Tecka]

no, as it's not fishing, the definition of fishing is a rod and a line, drop nets are simply that, drop a flat net in, wait a few minutes and lift out (it's baited with meat) so no fishing license needed

 

I shant respond to this as it's been answered already.

 

 

if our native signals have been reported in the same area, a license would never be issued, once in possession of the tags, you don't need to inform the EA of anything

 

Not even remotely true, the Lambourn had both signal and white and it was trapped for signal by a commercial company (not doing a good job hence me also attempting to get one) What would be the point in trying to eradicate the signal from the waters if they were just left if whites were present?

 

White can be caught for scientific purpose but not to be eaten and nothing anywhere within the EA does it say permission would not be granted if both were present.

 

The issue with Signal isn't just the impact on Whites but the impact to the entire ecosystem, they out compete whites on every angle. i.e. food, shelter. They do even more damage to mayfly larvae availability, they damage bankside vegetation which leads to erosion and they reduce spawning opportunities for brown trout by eating water based plants such as water crow foot.

 

If you catch a white claw and don't report it then I take back my respect for you catching the signal in the first place.

[Jerra]

 

If you catch a white claw and don't report it then I take back my respect for you catching the signal in the first place.

So would I.

[Dexter's Shed]

when our native crays are found in stretches of water, they are in fact removed and placed in secret areas as such, the reds carry a disease which kills off ours, I thought you were commenting on reds when you said they needed reporting

[Tecka]

when our native crays are found in stretches of water, they are in fact removed and placed in secret areas as such, the reds carry a disease which kills off ours, I thought you were commenting on reds when you said they needed reporting

 

Erm......... again, not true (although remotely so this time). The Lambourn had both White and Signal in the waters. This was known by the EA (They sat on the steering group for the Renewal Project) The White were not removed from the river. I can name another 4 or 5 sites where I know both are present and White are not removed.

 

You may be misunderstanding an initiative by BugLife where they are trialing something called 'ark' sites. These are areas known to be free of signal but having the habitat suitable to re-establish White populations. This does NOT mean by any stretch of the imagination that every white would be removed from its native environment (as this would completely defeat the point)

[Dexter's Shed]

I cannot believe that the EA would allow red's to live alongside whites without doing something about it, the reds carry a fungus that kills our native crays, so the native crays would not be in the same stretch of water for very long.

 

but we could carry on arguing that out forever, and to be honest, I'm not into "I know more than you" type convo's

I simply put up a post concerning trapping and eating american red's, let's leave it there

[ditchcrawler]

not trying to teach any grandmothers to suck eggs

but does anyone here catch crayfish?

as a pest controller I was Introduced to these a number of years ago by a shooting buddy, he took me and the wife and kids to a stretch of river alongside a canal, and we had a great day catching rather a lot of crayfish, I was hooked so to speak, so started thinking BIGGER....

we had been using small crab drop nets, after looking at what I had in the shed, I used 27" bicycle wheels with the spokes removed, to make eight large drop nets, I contacted the environmental agency and got tags for my drop nets and a 4yr cover on a couple of miles of water, all free of charge, I will need to renew my tags now as they taste great, and are classed as the poor man's lobster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so there we were, bringing home crayfish in the hundreds, your not allowed to put back once caught as they are non native to the UK, a few people I know sell them to the local chinese take away shops, cooking them on the cooker was a bit time consuming, so I sourced a crayfish boiling pot from america and had it shipped over, coupled up with a propane gas ring it made light work of cooking

 

if removing them from flowing waters, they can be boiled and eaten pretty much straight away, if removing them from standing waters, ponds etc, it's best to purge them for a day or two, and use salt to cleanse the mud from them

 

When you say Drop Nets, is that just a single piece of net stretched over a bike wheel and is lifted with the Crayfish sitting on top of it?

[Tecka]

I cannot believe that the EA would allow red's to live alongside whites without doing something about it, the reds carry a fungus that kills our native crays, so the native crays would not be in the same stretch of water for very long.

 

but we could carry on arguing that out forever, and to be honest, I'm not into "I know more than you" type convo's

I simply put up a post concerning trapping and eating american red's, let's leave it there

 

They don't do nothing about it, they try and catch the Signal!

 

The last thing you do if trying to protect a species is to remove the native population - that is what wouldn't make sense!

 

ETA sorry but I couldn't leave it there as you have given out some wrong information in this thread about catching them - you stated no licence needed = wrong. you stated that signal would not be licensed if white were present = wrong and you further stated that whites are removed if reds are in the same stretch of water = wrong.

 

Really sorry to point this out but its this kind of misinformation and advice given by people who appear to know what they are talking about that creates the issues in the first place! (i.e. if misinformed people hadn't released them into our waters then we wouldn't need the work now to eradicate them)

 

A post giving good factual information would be fine but when putting false information down you will do more harm than good in the long run so I'm afraid - no, I can't leave it there.

Edited November 29, 2015 by Tecka

[Jerra]

, the reds carry a fungus that kills our native crays, so the native crays would not be in the same stretch of water for very long.

Is it not more correct to say reds can carry a fungus rather than carry. As far as I am aware not all reds have the fungus.

[Dexter's Shed]

When you say Drop Nets, is that just a single piece of net stretched over a bike wheel and is lifted with the Crayfish sitting on top of it?

yes, I used wire bird bread feeders attached to center of netting to hold the bait, most meats will do, but I had best results with fresh rabbit,

[Caprifool]

Poor mans lobster. Heh. Over here they go for £30 per kilo.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Caprifool

[Barry]

yes, I used wire bird bread feeders attached to center of netting to hold the bait, most meats will do, but I had best results with fresh rabbit,

 

My brother has had good success with chicken livers

[Tecka]

 

if our native signals have been reported in the same area, a license would never be issued, once in possession of the tags, you don't need to inform the EA of anything

 

Not sure how I missed this yesterday but surely now that you've got to the end of your licence period you'll be sending in the catch return form, which asks for exact numbers and position of catches, you've filled in as you've gone along?

[PaulG]

I cannot believe that the EA would allow red's to live alongside whites without doing something about it, the reds carry a fungus that kills our native crays, so the native crays would not be in the same stretch of water for very long.

 

It's easy to understand why they are allowed to live alongside each other. Native crays carry the fungus, too. So if you move infected native crays into an area that contains a healthy population, you can infect them all.

[ditchcrawler]

OK so could you class these flat nets, Traps, if not do you actually legally need a licence ie tags to use them?

I bought a trap and downloaded the application for a licence, after reading it all I sold the trap. As a boater there was no way I could get water owners permission to use it as I didnt know where I would be or who actually owned the rights.

[peterboat]

they are at sheffield as richard caught one by accident and no it wasnt thrown back in

[Jerra]

OK so could you class these flat nets, Traps, if not do you actually legally need a licence ie tags to use them?

I bought a trap and downloaded the application for a licence, after reading it all I sold the trap. As a boater there was no way I could get water owners permission to use it as I didnt know where I would be or who actually owned the rights.

On the gov.uk site it says:

 

Crayfish trapping using fyke nets (with or without leaders or wings), drop nets, crayfish traps, pots 1 to over 500 Free

I assume the things being referred to are drop nets and so require a licence which as you can see is free and you can have a lot of traps.

 

However you do as far as I can see still have to "jump through the hoops" with regard to specifying where you will fish, have permission from the land owner and any angling clubs. Also there is the element of reporting the catch.

[ditchcrawler]

On the gov.uk site it says:

 

Crayfish trapping using fyke nets (with or without leaders or wings), drop nets, crayfish traps, pots 1 to over 500 Free

I assume the things being referred to are drop nets and so require a licence which as you can see is free and you can have a lot of traps.

 

However you do as far as I can see still have to "jump through the hoops" with regard to specifying where you will fish, have permission from the land owner and any angling clubs. Also there is the element of reporting the catch.

Ta