The scale of the signal crayfish population in the River Lea is truly amazing. The contents of this keepnet represent only about a week’s worth of trapping.
This keepnet full of crayfish represents about a week’s worth of trapping
There’s clearly plenty of food in the river to sustain this scuttling horde. Unfortunately, a significant amount of that food will be in the form of insect larvae and fish ova…
One way of controlling the blighters is to eat them, of course. All you need is a pot of boiling salted water (or a barbeque) and – as Arthur Daley would have it – the world is your lobster.
Our crayfish trapping contractor Max has all the necessary EA licenses and training, so don’t be tempted to trap them yourself. And if you do decide to take some home with you, please make sure to replace the trap as you found it and leave a note in the fishing hut to say how many you took.
Here are a couple of useful links about identifying the correct crayfish to eat and some tips on preparing them for the table.