Crayfish trapping license

[Nkwaziakuenda]

Hi there, It's taken me sme time to find out about trapping Signal Crayfish and I am surprised at how diffucult it was to find out anything about it.

But! Here we go.

You need to contact The Thames Region Environment Agency, and then you're looking for Application to trapand/or remove crayfish. You can then fill in the Application Form on line and print it off.

Sending it to:
Fish Movements Team, (CR1 APPLCATIONS),
Environment Agancy,
Bromholme Lane,
Brampton,
Huntingdom
Cambridgeshire PE28 4NE

Fax: 01480 483 955 or 483 026

I hope this was helpful

Nkwaziakuenda

[Nkwaziakuenda]

If you are stll interested in trapping Signal Crayfish I have added a comment and a How to;

[tessad]

Useful stuff:
information on crayfish trapping and how to identify the correct crayfish (did you know that there are LOTS of immigrant ones?!), information on different types of trap and how to help ensure your trap doesn't accidentally trap water voles or otters, and contact info for the Environment Agency:

http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk/forms...de-english.pdf

This is the form for the application to trap crayfish: http://www.efishbusiness.co.uk/formsandguides/cr1.pdf

And you will need the grid reference of where you plan to put your trap, so this is the link to the UK Grid reference finder: UK Grid Reference Finder. All you have to do is find the place on the map and drop the pin, and it tells you what the OS reference is. Nifty!

I had originally planned to just risk my neck and see if there were any crayfish in my local part of the Thames, but having read up on it, and read this man fined £4000, I've decided that not only is it the most responsible thing to apply for a licence, as they can tell me if where I propose to trap them is acceptable, but also I don't run the risk go a hefty fine if I accidentally trap any white-clawed ones.

The irritating thing is that the application form asks you for dimensions of the trap, but says that in case your application is refused, don't buy one unless you get the licence. So how am I meant to be able to give the dimensions???

I've seen 2 on Amazon for less than a tenner each, so I will probably buy one of them anyway, just in case! Crayfish , Crab , Fish Trap Deluxe: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure and Cormoran Crayfish Bait Trap Net: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure

Anyone suggest which one would be best? And for bait? I've heard that a tin of cat food with holes poked in it works well....

Cheers!

[Matt Smith]

Originally Posted by tessad

The irritating thing is that the application form asks you for dimensions of the trap, but says that in case your application is refused, don't buy one unless you get the licence. So how am I meant to be able to give the dimensions???

I've seen 2 on Amazon for less than a tenner each, so I will probably buy one of them anyway, just in case! Crayfish , Crab , Fish Trap Deluxe: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure and Cormoran Crayfish Bait Trap Net: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Leisure

Anyone suggest which one would be best? And for bait? I've heard that a tin of cat food with holes poked in it works well....

Cheers!

I'm not a fan of the expanding mesh traps having tried them out, I'm always afraid they will catch and tear on stuff under water. One good thing about them is they have a built in "bait bag" into which you can stuff your bait.

Most of the trapping I do is licenced survey work checking for native crayfish. I use a mixture of Swedish commercial rigid traps (which are expensive) and these metal "wastebasket traps", which have a smaller mesh size and work very well.

METAL CRAY FISH CRAB FISH BAIT TRAP LIVE CAGE A36 | eBay

I'm still not sure quite how the metal clip that hold them together is meant to be attached, I find a plastic cable tie helps keep them closed up.

For bait I tend to use chunks of "oily, non-freshwater fish", so bits of mackerel or pilchard work well. If you do want to use catfood then tying up large spoonfuls of the stuff inside bits of old nylon tights works well. That way you can spread your tin of catfood over more than one trap, and the nylon helps stop the crays from picking the bait clean from the outside of the trap.

[Stikx19]

I know the thread is about license but does anyone know of a place near the Cambridge/Thetford/Bury St. Edmunds area where there is good crawfishing?

[werry]

This all makes for very interesting reading i noticed some mention of eels in a couple of posts. Is it correct that the eel found in the UK is now on the endangered species list? and if so why?.
Oh last year i did bump into a very rare species it was an EA bailiff poor thing must have lost its way,i just wish i had had my camera.

[nightshade]

Sheer greed by the Elver fishers and the licensed Eel trappers, Fish sizes don't take into account that the female is usually the larger fish.
All that and some minor changes to the Gulf Stream and other oceanic currents

[aquarian31]

How dull and misleading can you get! the misleading thread by Chris halliday quoted below is an addition should be removed as its patently going to get folk into trouble...genuine wildlife folk and watchers don't need barrack room lawyers whatsoever - no wonder our environment is threatened because of poorly misinformed idiots.

Originally Posted by Charles Halliday

I really wouldn't worry about it mate - just go trapping. So long as there are no whiteclaw crayfish populations on the stretch that you're trapping, no one is going to fine you. The only people that will get snotty are the ones that have spent ages like me trying to jump through the hoops in order to get a license - trust me - licenses are a waste of time, unless you're an ecologist that is specifically intersted in surverying white claws.

The fishing community have been banging on about this for ages as it annoys them that they can't eat or kill them since they catch them on hook and line time and time again. The EA have now asking them not to put them back. The best thing you can do is to phone your local wild life trust and ask them if the rivers you're interested in have had white claws in them, ask when the last one was recorded and then ask if american crayfish are in there and for how long. The two can't co-exist for more than a couple of years, so if they've been in there for long, tuck in and enjoy.

The Environment Agency has a full and proper fact sheet avaiable for all to read online especially as it gives advice on how to protect other widlife that may come to harm from indiscriminate trapping.

Please see the link : Environment Agency - Crayfish traps

Oh and by the way it was ever so easy to find this information.... its a shame that Chris halliday failed..big time
Hope this helps

[Matt Smith]

Every trap you put in the water requires an EA licence tag attached to it, otherwise it can be seized by water baliffs or EA staff.

Fill in the form on e-fish business as mentioned above and get the proper permits. As for the EA "have now asking them not to put them back", you have never been allowed to put them back. They are a non native species and putting them back counts as "release", which is illegal under the W&C Act.