Costly Crayfish misidentification

[The Woodman]

For those fishing for Signal Crayfish heed the following BBC press release from yesterday and make sure you get the ID correct.

Man fined for trapping Cumbrian white-clawed crayfish

The white-clawed crayfish is in danger of being wiped out.

A man from Leeds has been ordered to pay £4,000 in fines and costs after trapping and eating a threatened species of crayfish in Cumbria.

Magistrates in Kendal heard salesman Christopher Hemsley, 42, cooked and ate at least 40 white-clawed crayfish from the River Kent at Staveley last year.

The river is one of the last refuges of the crayfish which is under threat from invasive foreign species.

Helmsley admitted contravening the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act.

The court heard Helmsley caught the crayfish while staying at a caravan with friends in September.

He told staff from the Environment Agency, which brought the prosecution, that he thought he was trapping American signal crayfish.

Helmsley was fined £3,900 and ordered to pay £100 costs.

The American species is an invasive pest and carries the plague responsible for almost wiping out white-clawed crayfish.

Helmsley apologised to the court and said he was "thoroughly embarrassed" at his actions.

Cumbria has Europe's only stronghold population of white-clawed crayfish.

[mrbright]

i for one do not believe him one iota, he bought a net and was going to cook whatever he caught, the fact that he used signal crayfish as an excuse is laughable, if he was trapping for signal crayfish, he must at sometime of looked up identification, and the id is pretty remarkable, you could not get confused, well done to the person who reported this heinous crime against nature.

[Stinky Bob]

The thing is in Cumbria according to one article I read it is also illegal to trap/catch the signal crayfish as well

[nigel_b]

Originally Posted by Stinky Bob

The thing is in Cumbria according to one article I read it is also illegal to trap/catch the signal crayfish as well

Presumably so people cant go about their business with traps and nets or whatever they use and claim to be catching signal crayfish?

[Stinky Bob]

Originally Posted by nigel_b

Presumably so people cant go about their business with traps and nets or whatever they use and claim to be catching signal crayfish?

I think its more to do with potentially transferring the virus from one area to another via the trapping gear etc.