Signal Crayfish

[nightshade]

I was talking to some local people at a Audio Trail launch
They were saying that local streams were now so heavily
populated with Signalers that Dippers which had nested for
years cound no longer find enough invertebrates to feed their
young

[elmodiddly]

Originally Posted by notbrazil

I have filled the forms in 3 times and am not allowed to catch them. I have written to Bolton Abbey Estates twice but have not had a reply.

Is it really that hard to get permission to go trapping in an area you know to be infested?

[notbrazil]

Yip.

Try it.

[Kayleigh]

They would go very nice with garlic butter.

I think its time to get a petition to the government to get this sorted before we loose all our fish/native crays and all the birds/wildlife that feed on them. We need to eliminate the aliens altogether. Besides they were brought in as food in the first place so we should be able to fish for them on a normal rod licence. Why are they being protected??

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by notbrazil

Ian

Not a good idea to stand on them. Seriously. They're a bit like cockroaches and will release eggs. I know it sounds daft but your better throwing them back than standing on them. They can live out of water for months not even requiring a nearby waterway in weather such as we have now. It will be interesting to see what effect recent flooding has had.

Best thing to do is take them away in a bucket of riverwater and transfer straight to freezer.

They arnt like cockroaches in that way, if you stand on them you will crush the eggs releasing the moisture the young will quickly dry out and if underdeveloped would die anyway, it is not true that they can live out of water for months they would quickly dry out possibly they could survive in the mud under a pond for example, they breathe via gills meaning they require water flow across the carapace and the lateral body wall this is where the gills are situated, water is circulated through there branchial chamber much in the same way as a crab breaths.

[elmodiddly]

They can cross fields and short distances to populate nearby rivers and lakes but maybe a bit of myth has got in the way of a good old bit of science!

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

Why are they being protected??

i think its not about protection per se but rather control - if people are allowed to fish for them un controled it is only a matter of time before some chucklehead releases some in a water course they have not previously reached.

also another consideration is that not everybody can tell the native and signals apart and thus where both are present licences are restricted.

i do agree however that the licencing process has got unworkably complex - a case of buearcracy for its own sake most likely

[elmodiddly]

This is the bit I don't quite get. You're fishing for Crayfish. The law says don't release them elsewhere, whatever you catch you kill. So far so good.

So why go further and put a fear of release elsewhere into the equation, making fishing for crayfish such a grind to get organised? I've seen people comment about egg release etc but the matter is, when you catch them, they go into a pot/tub/box whatever and you've got an instant enclosed environment.

It's like having a speed limit but then later insisting that all cars are then fitted with speed limiters!

[notbrazil]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

They arnt like cockroaches in that way, if you stand on them you will crush the eggs releasing the moisture the young will quickly dry out and if underdeveloped would die anyway, it is not true that they can live out of water for months they would quickly dry out possibly they could survive in the mud under a pond for example, they breathe via gills meaning they require water flow across the carapace and the lateral body wall this is where the gills are situated, water is circulated through there branchial chamber much in the same way as a crab breaths.

Blimey. Tell ya what Dogghound, I ain't arguing with that.

I guess I'm only relaying what was in the Guardian a few years ago - looking back is was likely scaremongering although in this weather they might be able to survive permanently out of water.

I'm off fishing tomorrow. My freezer is empty. I know I will catch some as I'm Pike fishing and they always grab my bait.

[notbrazil]

Originally Posted by elmodiddly

This is the bit I don't quite get. You're fishing for Crayfish. The law says don't release them elsewhere, whatever you catch you kill. So far so good.

So why go further and put a fear of release elsewhere into the equation, making fishing for crayfish such a grind to get organised? I've seen people comment about egg release etc but the matter is, when you catch them, they go into a pot/tub/box whatever and you've got an instant enclosed environment.

It's like having a speed limit but then later insisting that all cars are then fitted with speed limiters!

Aye.

BUT... you can't fish for Crayfish unless you have a Crayfish license. In the North of England you can't get a crayfish license meaning you can't catch them meaning that if you do catch them you put them back meaning that the law is a complete ass. If you take them away at all - in a pot/tub/box, whatever, you are breaking the law. Crass, but true.