The use of traps to catch crayfish in the North of England & Wales (unless for scientific research, conservation, or fishery management) will normally be refused for the following reasons:

There is an increased risk of spreading crayfish plague and other fish diseases

There is an increased risk of catching and / or harming native crayfish

Small scale trapping of Signal crayfish has been shown to increase rather than decrease their population size¹

¹Scientific evidence shows that large males are preferentially attracted to traps, while females and small males are trap-shy. As large male signal crayfish cannibalise juveniles they have the effect of keeping total population numbers down. In areas where trapping has occurred, the removing of these large males has resulted in a dramatic increase of overall signal numbers in the years after trapping."

"The use of traps in southern England to catch crayfish for personal consumption or as a business enterprise is likely to be approved.

However, we would usually not approve the trapping of non-native crayfish in areas where there is a high risk of the native white-clawed crayfish getting caught. This is currently the case in the south west of England, especially Devon, Cornwall and Somerset.

Please set customer's expectations accordingly if they wish to trap in this area.

Local fisheries teams can give advice regarding where people can trap crayfish in their area.

Whilst the trapping of crayfish in the South of England is likely to be approved, our preference is for members of the public to use a rod and line because:

Traps can impact on non-target species, such as water voles, otters, amphibians

Rod licence revenue is invested into improving angling and fisheries management