Invasion of the Signal Crayfish

You see, this is one of the exciting things about Fishing ! you never quite know what your gonna find on the end of your hook - there is always that apprehensive moment as you reel the line in to get the first glimpse of the fish breaking the water.  Now I'm sure you've all been there with the 50th roach, the obligatory coke can, the snagged shopping trolley, or various bits of tree branch - but a recent trip to a local Hampshire lake had Fishing Fools seriously confused as we pulled what looked like a small lobster out of the water, with it being firmly attached to a hair rigged boiley ! A quick bit of googling revealed that we had actually been snagged by one of the invaders to our water ways - the American Signal Crayfish !

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The UK has only one species of native crayfish the white clawed crayfish. However since the mid 1970s a number of other crayfish species have been brought into this country and have got into, and are now thriving in, the wild.   The most commonly found of these non-native crayfish is the signal crayfish, which has colonised much of the south of England. The impact signal crayfish have is:

· Signal crayfish may carry a disease (crayfish plague) that kills our native crayfish.

· They out compete native crayfish for food.

· Signal crayfish can reduce the numbers and range of other animals and plants.

· They burrow into banks causing damage.

· At high numbers they are a pain in the neck to anglers!

So the answer’s easy isn’t it ? you just Trap / dispatch the foreign invaders and everything is ok – Well unfortunately this isn’t the case ! There are numerous rules and regulations covering Crayfish trapping and capture, which really seem to make the whole thing very confusing!

For White-clawed Crayfish

• It is illegal to take white-clawed crayfish from the wild or offer for sale without a licence.  EU Habitats Directive and UK Wildlife and Countryside Act
• It is illegal to handle native crayfish in England without a licence from Natural England.
• It is illegal to trap any species of crayfish without licensing from the Environment Agency.

For Non-native Crayfish

• It is illegal to release, or allow to escape, any non-native species into the wild in the UK except under licence.  Wildife and Countryside Act 1981
• It is illegal to keep any crayfish in England and Wales, except under licence (with specific exemption areas for signal crayfish, refer to DEFRA - Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs). 
• It is illegal to trap any species of crayfish without licensing from the Environment Agency.
• It is illegal to trap, trade or farm any species of crayfish commercially without licence. The Prohibition of Keeping of Live Fish (Crayfish) Order 1996

Blimey  For the simple anglers like Fishing Fools, trying to do the right thing for the protection of the UK river ways and the good old native White-clawed crayfish seems blurred in a maze of Licenses and regulations – Clearer guidance from the Environment Agency would certainly be very welcome.

For Fishing Fools, we certainly hope that we don't run in to one of these nasty's any time soon !

Note: Fishing fools accept no responsibility for the correctness of this article – please check with the Environment Agency on the license requirements and legal position of Crayfish.

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