Signal Crayfish

[notbrazil]

Signal crayfish everywhere! I went for a quick scuba dive the other night in the River Dibb near Bolton Abbey and astonished to see the sheer numbers of signal crayfish on the river bed. I was at about 6m. Every rock, nook and cranny was crawling with them.

As I have a penchant for shellfish I duely removed about 20 of them in a bag and froze immmediately, aware of how they can release eggs if relocated. Maybe I need a license to do this but who cares? There were literally hundreds upon hundreds. Quite scary.

They are very agressive when approached and will nip. They can actually shoot forward and backwards in mid water making the heart skip a beat on occasion.

I have reported to EA who said that nothing much can be done, but to my knowledge the Finnish government ran a successful culling campaign to halt their spread there. Surely we can do something considering these buggers are eating fish eggs, eels, our native crayfish and can tunnel 1.5m into riverbanks causing a honeycomb effect which has collapsed banks.

[nightshade]

You could eat them all yourself this is a case for ecological balance an otter or two!

[Bushcraft]

Originally Posted by notbrazil

Went for a quick scuba dive the other night in the River Dibb near Bolton Abbey. I was absolutely astonished to see the sheer numbers of American signals on the river bed. I was at about 6m. Every rock, nook and cranny was crawling with them.

As I have a penchant for shellfish I duely removed about 20 of them in a bag and froze immmediately, aware of how they can release eggs if relocated. Maybe I need a license to do this but who cares? There were literally hundreds upon hundreds. Quite scary.

They are very agressive when approached and will nip. They can actually shoot forward and backwards in mid water making the heart skip a beat on occasion.

I have reported to EA who said that nothing much can be done, but to my knowledge the Finnish government ran a successful culling campaign to halt their spread there. Surely we can do something considering these buggers are eating fish eggs, eels, our native crayfish and can tunnel 1.5m into riverbanks causing a honeycomb effect which has collapsed banks.

You might get lynched for saying that here lol. I have to agree though but if they are all removed we would have one less thing thats free to eat!

[notbrazil]

I would like to see what argument PC Wildlife Plod could come up with to stop me eating them. I'm going to fill the freezer at the weekend.

[Airehead]

Originally Posted by notbrazil

I would like to see what argument PC Wildlife Plod could come up with to stop me eating them..

You might find out if you insist on being so public. For example, I am closely in touch with a bailiff of the Grassington stretch, Consider this as a friendly caution, not a threat.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by notbrazil

I would like to see what argument PC Wildlife Plod could come up with to stop me eating them. I'm going to fill the freezer at the weekend.

They are not protected as they are a foreign invader and thus not subject to the crow act provisions - so long as you kill them in a humane manner so that you dont fall foul of the animal cruelty laws, and take care not to spread them to avoid messing with the EA I think it is doubtful that the old bill will care

If you dont have permission I supose you could be technically guilty of poaching, but that would require a complaint from the landowner who probably doesnt give a flip - The boys in blue almost certainly have more important things to worry about than illict crayfish eating.

I doubt that Airehead can grass you up either - unless you know each other, as it is likely that the cops would need a bit more in the way of ID than just a forum pseodonym

Fill your boots and happy munching (try em with butter and lemon) - if we all followed your example perhaps we could wipe out the blighters.

[Gill Catton]

what we need is the mink to eat the signal crayfish and the the ptters to drive out the mink - sorted!

BTW if you do a search on WAB with the word 'crayfish' you'l find the opinion of our resident Wildlife Liason Officer......

[Gill Catton]

what we need is the mink to eat the signal crayfish and the the ptters to drive out the mink - sorted!

BTW if you do a search on WAB with the word 'crayfish' you'l find the opinion of our resident Wildlife Liason Officer in the thread of the same name......

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

what we need is the mink to eat the signal crayfish and the the ptters to drive out the mink - sorted!

BTW if you do a search on WAB with the word 'crayfish' you'l find the opinion of our resident Wildlife Liason Officer in the thread of the same name......

So good you had to say it twice

Incidentally did our resident WLO ever answer my question about what specific laws (if any) those who eat signals are breaking ? (if he did its not on that thread)

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by eeyore

So good you had to say it twice

Incidentally did our resident WLO ever answer my question about what specific laws (if any) those who eat signals are breaking ? (if he did its not on that thread)

dunno don't think so..... I'm not certain it is breaking the law..... more against best practice - there's always a risk I suppose in moving the animals about, particularly if there's lots as described - and you tell your friends - and they catch some to eat and some to sell to pubs - and then there's a market - so someone buys in some signals to breed and sticks them in his pond - and they escape into nearby watercourses........