Police probe theft of rare crayfish from River Wansbeck

Posted by The Journal on Feb 5, 09 11:25 AM in News

Could they be making a tasty morsel on North East dinner plates?

Endangered crayfish are disappearing from a Northumberland river. And police and environment investigators want to know where they have gone.

Anne Lewis in Plessey Woods

Conservation officer Anne Lewis searches the waterways in Plessey Woods for the alien American Crayfish.

They have launched an investigation amid fears people have been illegally taking protected white-clawed crayfish from the River Wansbeck.

The river is one of the few areas where the British white-clawed crayfish have not been threatened by pollution, disease and competition from invasive American signal crayfish, which carry a deadly plague.

The competing crayfish, which breed at a fast rate, are such a problem for our native ones that TV chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall featured an item on trapping and cooking the invaders on his River Cottage show. The worry is that poachers are catching the native white-clawed crayfish, which are protected by law, rather than their American cousins, for eating.

Conservationists rate the River Wansbeck as one of the most important places for the species in the world, so any threat to the white-clawed crayfish is taken very seriously.

Northumbria Police and the Environment Agency launched its two-pronged investigation after a report that crayfish were taken from the River Wansbeck.

Inspector Ross Davidson, of Bedlington police station, said: "Our initial enquiries have provided us with information as to where the crayfish are being removed from and how they're actually caught.

"The crayfish is a protected species. It is unlawful to remove them from their natural environment. We will be working with our partners from the local authority and Defra to follow up the leads we currently have and to prevent further offences."

An Environment Agency spokeswoman said: "The Environment Agency is investigating allegations of poaching of crayfish which arises out of suspicious activity.

"Because the white clawed crayfish is protected the police are also investigating."

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