Bob Ring, or ‘Crayfish Bob’ shares his passion – an effective, and tasty, response to the damage the invasive crayfish species are doing to UK waterways and their native inhabitants.
Bob is a man on a mission – not just to remove as many American Signal crayfish which infest UK waters as he can, and put them into fine foods, but to also leave a legacy of trappers and legislation that makes sense, and has a real impact on reducing the number and the environmental impact of these invasive species.
It makes sense to me that if we are going to eat meat, then choosing not only a wild-caught animal, but one that is an invasive species causing problems for local wildlife and waterways would be a great place to start. So I spoke to Bob about the situation with crayfish in the UK, and what we can do about it… and of course how delicious they are!
American Signal crayfish – easily identifiable by the bright red underside of it’s claws
Back in the 1970’s the British government introduced the American Signal crayfish, with the idea of farming them as a lucrative business. A rather massive mistake as not only did it turn out to be a failed business venture, but the Signal crayfish rapidly populated waterways and out-competed the native crayfish. You can read Bob’s longer version of the story here.
Native UK crayfish populations are in a sorry state. Signal crayfish carry a disease, the ‘crayfish plague’ that is killing off the native crayfish. And the Signal crayfish outcompete with the natives, through more successful breeding, their bigger size and more varied diet. Not only do Signal crayfish have an impact on their native cousins, but they are causing erosion of riverbanks with their winter tunneling. Their unnaturally large population also affects other creatures, as they eat their way through fish eggs and molluscs too.
Crayfish Bob in his natural habitat
The invasive Signal crayfish, and the problems they cause span right the way across the UK. However, they are a great example of that old permaculture saying ‘the problem is the solution’. And Bob is one of the pioneers encouraging others to eat their way to the invasive crayfish solution. 15 years ago Bob set up his organisation Crayaway, which has raised public awareness and also removed many tonnes of American Signal crayfish from English waters.
Historically, crayfish have always been a delicacy, and the UK currently imports over 1,000 tonnes of crayfish tail meat from China (thats about 7,000 tonnes of crayfish caught to produce it)… so there is no doubt about the market for crayfish meat!
Bob inspects a crayfish trap from the river Thames
One challenge is that as awareness of the crayfish problem in the UK increases, so do sales of the Chinese imports – by well-meaning and misinformed consumers. Bob says it’s important we check where our crayfish are coming from. Any large retail outlets are going to be using Chinese crayfish tails. One to watch out for is that even if they say ‘produced in the UK’ they may still be imported and simply ‘flavour enhanced’ in the UK.
UK trapped crayfish tails sell for about 5 times the price of Chinese imports – due to the labour costs involved. So it seems if we are to have a thriving market for UK caught crayfish we need to expand the way we eat crayfish… looking to Scandinavia and the USA for inspiration. Through these influences, Bob has been holding massive, Louisiana-style ‘crayfish boils’ and other awareness-raising, taste-bud satisfying events throughout the UK. And now he is creating a food revolution – gumbo, escabeche, potted crayfish, Swedish-style crayfish in shell. In particular, meals that don’t waste a single part of this creature. Commonly people eat just the tails, but Bob is keen to stress that you can eat much more than that, and that some of the most tasty and nutritious parts are in the main body.
Traditional Louisiana Crayfish Boil
You can of course get out there and try trapping for yourself – our crayfish introductory page should get you started, with information on what you need, and how to legally and safely trap crayfish. You need a licence to trap crayfish, and want to make sure you aren’t harming any other wildlife as you do it – especially otters.
As a small-scale trapper you might not have a massive impact on the population of Signal crayfish in a river, due to the ease of re-population, but in a closed body of water such as a lake or pond you can have a real impact on population, and make a significant difference. Either way, you can obtain a nutritious wild protein source whilst having a positive impact on UK waterways and wildlife – what’s not to like?!
No Comments
Hi
We have a small trout fishery and have to catch rd signal crayfish as they are overrunning the pool – We are considering catching cleaning and then cooking for food – If we wanted to sell the crayfish to friends and locals what do we need to do if that is possible – I understand we need to test the water is this something we can do or have to get a professional in?
Many Thanks
Steve
Steve, it depends on a few factors. The law allows you to “transport to a facility in the context of eradication”, without a licence, so the law says that you can take them bio-securely to a pot in your kitchen, I believe.
Were you to ask an advisor from Natural England or DEFRA then you’d likely be told you need licences etc. (One problem with AIS REGULATIONS 2019 is that the management plan doesn’t match the law and the result is bad advice and even scaremongering from government departments.)
So, understanding that there are grey areas with the current regulations, you should be able to take your legally trapped crayfish to your pot. What you can’t do, legally, is hold or keep the crayfish without a licence: technically you’d need to kill them immediately. You can purge a crayfish by keeping it a day or two in the trap and not letting it get at the bait. Then just wash any mud off before fully cooking.
A government advisor would likely say that, to do any of the above, you need a licence to keep from Natural England. That is an option you could consider to avoid any punch-ups over the interpretation of the law.
You won’t get a licence if you are in Wales or much north of Birmingham.
One very clear bit is that you can’t sell live crayfish, except to someone who has an NE licence to keep.
All the IAS Regulations are about live crayfish. Nobody cares once it’s dead: …. except we now have food laws to consider.
if you are supplying cooked crayfish to the public. You need to register the cooking premises with Environmental Health, and meet various increasing demands depending on how far afield you supply and whether you are supplying directly to the end user, or not.
At farmers market level there should be no need for water testing, although a few EHOs may say differently. If you know the water and have no knowledge of heavy metals or PCBs, etc, then testing would seem pointless and expensive. Crayfish don’t hold stuff in their bodies quite like carp or eels do. Even were there a presence of PCBs, you’d have to eat a large quantity to register an effect. People just don’t eat the quantity.
I hope this helps.
Feel free to contact me directly. I don’t know where you are but I may be able to buy some from you, at least for animal feed.