Is The Sellling Of Crayfish Illegal In The Uk?

[diet]

as the title says....


I went to my lfs 2 days ago and asked about them and was told that it was now illegal in the uk to sell them at all because they are now endangered out of interest i phoned my parents Lfs and was told basically the same and these two LFS are 300 miles apart

any input would be great

Daniel

 

[raptorrex]

as the title says....


I went to my lfs 2 days ago and asked about them and was told that it was now illegal in the uk to sell them at all because they are now endangered out of interest i phoned my parents Lfs and was told basically the same and these two LFS are 300 miles apart

any input would be great

Daniel

totally untrue!!!!!!!!

the sale of all Crayfish except the Australian Redclaw, Cherax quadricarinatus is illegal in the uk. the sale and trade of Redclaws is quite legal.

The prohibition is nothing to do with Crays being endangered, it is caused by the release of numbers of "coldwater" Cray in the seventies. the American Signal Cray is in the process of destroying our native Cray, the White Claw, with a combination of aggression and a plague. it means that only tropical Cray can be kept in the UK. the only tropical Cray identified so far is the Redclaw.


i can point you in the right direction to purchase one if you wish. i know several breeders, and more than a few lfs that keep them.

 

[diet]

cheers for that i will go back to them with that and see what they say and let u know

 

[diet]

Spoke to my lfs and they say that they refuse to stock any cray fish!!!

 

[three-fingers]

Yep your lfs is just being weird, the white clawed crayfish is the native species here and is endangered. One of the main reasons it is endangered here is because of American crayfish introduced to our waters.
Thats why all other crayfish are illegal (though its easy to obtain a license).
The only species that shops can sell is Cherax quadricarinatus because it cant survive in our cold waters so is no threat to native crayfish.

 

[raptorrex]

Yep your lfs is just being weird, the white clawed crayfish is the native species here and is endangered. One of the main reasons it is endangered here is because of American crayfish introduced to our waters.
Thats why all other crayfish are illegal (though its easy to obtain a license).
The only species that shops can sell is Cherax quadricarinatus because it cant survive in our cold waters so is no threat to native crayfish.

the area you live in will govern whether the environment agency, will grant a licence, for Cray other than a Redclaw, but it is far from easy, the last two people who asked, that i know, had a visit from the agency and had their Cray destroyed.

up until recently, there was an amnesty, for LFS. apparently the rules were too difficult to understand though keepers, were not included in this. and some received prohibition orders forbidding them to keeping tropical aquatic stock at all!!!

academic really, as most Cray are not suited to the temp in a tropical tank. temp as a trigger for many things, including breeding. this confuses the Cray and can lead to many problems.

 

[three-fingers]

Well here in Scotland its fairly easy. I asked the scottish executive about importing species of lepidurus and they told me to contact "Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Fisheries Research Services, Marine Laboratory Aquaculture & Aquatic Animal". They only really require for you and the person sending the animal to you to fill out some forums for a license, i know someone who was trying to get a license for a different type of cray and thats what they did. The trouble was to most importers this is too much trouble so he couldn't get it in the end.
Your either going to have to offer them much more money, or ideally get someone you know to send it to you
The trick is to get a license before you get the cray, but it must be very annoying if you buy the cray from your lfs not knowing its illegal, you later find out and try to get a license but your poor cray gets destroyed .

 

[raptorrex]

Well here in Scotland its fairly easy. I asked the scottish executive about importing species of lepidurus and they told me to contact "Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Fisheries Research Services, Marine Laboratory Aquaculture & Aquatic Animal". They only really require for you and the person sending the animal to you to fill out some forums for a license, i know someone who was trying to get a license for a different type of cray and thats what they did. The trouble was to most importers this is too much trouble so he couldn't get it in the end.
Your either going to have to offer them much more money, or ideally get someone you know to send it to you
The trick is to get a license before you get the cray, but it must be very annoying if you buy the cray from your lfs not knowing its illegal, you later find out and try to get a license but your poor cray gets destroyed .

lol yeh just found out about the different rules in Scotland and Wales. just my luck