Red Signal Crayfish

Despite fishing for many years, mostly in the Bucks and Herts area, I had my first meeting with the infamous Red Signal Crayfish yesterday. I have fished the lake in question for several years without previously being bothered.

To say my pleasure was marred is an understatement - any bottom bait was targeted and I ended up with several of the things on the bank. The largest was around 6" (150mm) long, excluding antennae.

Can anyone give me an update on:-

1 - The law - is it correct that these things should be killed whenever taken ? Can they be removed from the water for consumption, if taken by rod & line, rather than by trap.

2 - Can anyone advise a humane, bankside way of destroying this vermin. I am aware that passers-by have complained at seeing these things killed. I am sure I could be prosecuted for unnecessary cruelty and provide ammunition for the antis if doing this wrong !

Is there a quiet, undemonstrative, safe way of disposing of these aliens ?

Help please.

Fred

I'm not aware that you can be breaking any law,in fact I don't think your supposed to put them back.
Put them in a plastic bag,seal it though,take them home, and cook them in dill flavoured salted boiling water.

Niiiiice!

dont listen to Fred - garlic butter and a dash of white wine.

Don't listen to Fred. You need an EA licence to remove them - honest!

Mind you ........ What the eye doesn't see etc., but be sure they are signals!

The only other way is to despatch them swifty under the heal of your boot. Dispose of the properly in a nearby field or hedgerow. Fish in places where not many antis go.

didnt someone get fined for starting a bait making service using liquidised Crayfish as the main ingredient. Crayfish are a protected species, unfortunately even the red signal crayfish which dont belong in UK waters.

I helped out with the old NRA survey on indigenous white claw at Nottingham university a few years ago

here are some useful websites
http://wbrc.org.uk/worcrecd/Issue8/crayfish.htm

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/f...nal-crayfish-releasing-into-wild-illegal.html

Sorry Trev / Woody, not accurate in relation to the Red Signal bastards; tho true enough in relation to the endangered native White clawed crayfish (for anyone confused the colours relate to the colour of the underside of the claws btw, quite distinctively different).

I did fully research the law on this not all that long ago, somewhere in the last six to nine months, and posted an inordinately long and scholarly dissertation on the subject...

Buggered if I can find the post now, the search engine on this otherwise admirable site is absolutely carp.

If someone can find it please feel free to reproduce the URL, as I have lost patience trying to find it.

The upshot / summary of the position as it stands is:

1) If you catch a signal crayfish you can't put it back, you have to kill it. You are breaking the law if you put it back, even if you just release it on the bank. So taking them for the pot is not just legal but a bloody good and extremely tasty idea. With king prawns at ?6.00 for 250g what's not to like... If you don't want to eat them then the application of the heel a size 12 is not just desirable but compulsory.

2) You don't need a licence to fish or trap for signals in the areas shown on a map on the EA or DEFRA website (which I gave the link to in my former post, see above)as the EA has suspended the need to get one in those areas. When you look at the map the need for a licence is basically suspended everywhere where there are signals established.

See also

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/regulat/forms/fish/cray2.pdf

which sets out the areas by postcode rather than that damned handy map, just look up your postcode and read the good news.

Plus the leaflet has some useful assistance for anyone in the commercial hotel and restaurant trade. No need for a licence, so get cooking Gordon Ramsay and friends, it may be the best way to deal with the crayfish plague !

Anywhere else you do still need a licence to trap for natives. A licence you're basically not going to get unless for genuine scientific research or similar into the native crayfish etc.

The boot idea sounds good, with a swift kicking under the nearest bush.

I did read on another site elsewhere that if you kick the crushed corpses back into your swim it will deter other Cray visitors....

Though I'm not 100% sure about that one myself, as Red Claw Signal Cray are cannibals. I suspect the perceived positive effect may be that they devote themselves to devouring the corpse rather than your bait. either way, better taken home and eaten !

(tho keep for two days in clean tap water plus potato peelings.... read other posts for why - and recipes !)

what you want to do is build a little gallows at the end of the pool, hang a signal on it with a note on his chest warning his buddies this could happen to them and tell them to go back to their own bludi country

Thanks Evan thats really usefull info. Glad you posted it, I shall look for your original url.

You know what,I wasn't going to argue the point,in deference to the master of knowitall. But,I was certain, you were not supposed to put them back.

Bully's way is just as good,after you've boiled them in dill infused water.

"You know what,I wasn't going to argue the point,in deference to the master of knowitall. But,I was certain, you were not supposed to put them back."

If you read properly Fred, I never said you should put them back.

I said "despatch them swifty under the heal of your boot", but contrary to what Evan said about taking them home, the EA officer told me that I DID need a licence to remove them. I don't knowitall as you imply Fred, but I ask the right people and listen to instructions.

So,you need a licence to remove non-indiginous crayfish,but not freshwater fish...pish!

Perhaps,you once needed a licence to trap, and remove,Jeff.

You can get different answers to the same question,if you're non specific.

I have obtained this update from the Association whose water I was fishing on Sunday. I have edited the full reply but the key points are given below.

"I am afraid the little devils are spreading throughout all waters in all parts of the country.

The law states that to trap and remove signal crayfish you must have a licence from the Environment Agency and permission from the water owners/licensee.

It also states that if you should catch one by accident then you should NOT return it to the water as they are not native and cause an awful lot of damage.

You are quite right that should you dispose of them brutally in front of the public some do gooder will complain and give the anti's more ammunition.

Personally if you don't want to take them home them a bank stick through or a big boot over its head seems to do the trick and they should then be lost in the hedgerow or a bin.

On no account should they be thrown back even when dead. There is no authorised humane way of despatching them on the bank side."

I read that as meaning if we catch a RS Crayfish by normal angling techniques we must destroy the thing. I do not want to stamp on them - **** Walker's stealth approach is engraved on my heart, if not always apparent by clumsiness on the bank. I think one of my banksticks will be visiting the bench grinder before my next outing.

Every tackle shop round here seems to have suitable traps for sale - I wonder how many licences EA have issued ?

Preparation and recipe tips for these things would now be welcomed.

No preparation required,Fred.
Just dunk the blighters,live or, from a 1.5hour freeze, in aforementioned boiling water for 6-8 minutes.

You can make a marie rose(nice pink) sauce,by mixing mayonaise and tom ketchup,more mayo than tom sauce though.

"the EA officer told me....."

and he checked it with the legal department first just to be sure his advice was up to date ?. Not.

The present state of play is really quite simple, to summarise:

1) Leave native white claw crayfish alone. Everywhere. Period.

2) You can fish and trap Red Signals <u>and</u> take them home to eat without needing any licence in the postcode areas set out in this guide

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/regulat/forms/fish/cray2.pdf

3) If you catch a crayfish inadvertently and you don't want to take it home for the pot you are obliged to kill it. You must kill it because it is a criminal offence to put it back or release it. Method of despatch up to you.


Oh, and once its dead there doesn't seem to be any <u>legal</u> reason why you can't throw the dead body back in the water, as the regulations apply only to live crayfish.

However I can think of two reasons; a) the bacteria they carry, every one removed is that little bit to the better and b) females may have fertilised eggs underneath capable of surviving to cause further destruction.

so if its red its gotta be dead. Thats easy to remember.

A fishing variant on 'Better dead than red....' I like it !

Fred, + enhance your basic sauce marie rose into something rather more special by adding some lemon juice and a couple of drops of tabasco sauce to taste. Then a scrunch of black pepper and mix....
If it seems too thin just add more mayo until the consistency is right / too thick then more tomato sauce and / or lemon juice to taste. Yummy.
Some authorities add a handful of drained capers and / or chopped up gherkin, tho I think that is really more of an intrusion from tartar sauce.
The prawn, or rather Crayfish tail cocktail is long overdue a real revival in popularity !

Who knows, if it really caught on in the posh restaurants the rivers might be lined with illegals doing something useful for once, netting out the Crays by the ton.....

Sent a mail to another EA officer who says
"If it's a non-native crayfish, he has to remove it and can do what he wants with it. Eating is perfectly acceptable. If they want to use a trap, they do, of course, need a licence (free) from ourselves."

Ok? Also around here is on that list.