Bruno Garcia of the Charente-Maritime fishing federation is attacking a dirty beast today on France Bleu la Rochelle.
Bruno Garcia:
Yes ! This crayfish is one of the undesirables, it belongs to the large family of invasive species.
A great reproductive capacity?
Huge and that’s why it’s both interesting for the fisherman and harmful for the environment. A female, for example, is an adult after a few months and capable of producing several hundred small crayfish.
Which means that in the long term, we only find Louisiana crayfish.
Absolutely this little animal is omnivorous, you can imagine the damage it is capable of doing to a breeding area. This crayfish is capable of sterilizing a stream in a few years. You should also know that when it feels threatened, it digs galleries, burrows, it manages to perforate and weaken the dikes.
How do you recognize them from other crayfish?
When it is adult it is generally red in color, but beware the crayfish as many fish benefit from mimicry and depending on the nature of the habitat, the color of the water, it can take on different hues. . There are physical criteria which make it possible to distinguish it: the edges of the rostrum are convergent and not parallel unlike the American crayfish (orconectes limosus), the internal face of the claws has 6 or 7 sharp teeth. It can measure up to 20 cm, without clamps
A small lobster Do we still have many different species of crayfish in Charente-Maritime?
Basically these two, procambarus clarkii and orconectes limosus, louisiana and american.
So obviously regulatory obligations in relation to this filthy beast?
A multitude of things to respect, but two that are particularly important to us and easy to understand.
– 1st live transport is prohibited, in order to limit the spread of this crayfish.
– 2nd the release, again for the same reasons as before, is sanctioned. And of course in addition to all that the obligations that apply to the practice of fishing, fishing license, schedule, etc.
There is not only one negative side, fishing them must be a great moment of pleasure?
If there is a fishing that is for everyone, it is this one. Small, large, medium, men, women everyone finds their account. That’s it, the waters have warmed up and they are active.
Hardware side?
On the material side, it’s the same thing, the equipment is very rudimentary.
If you want to fish with a line, a vulgar piece of bamboo will suffice, equipped with a piece of cord on which you will put a float, a bite indicator if you prefer. Or you practice using scales, a derogatory measure for this machine, the 10 mm side mesh is authorized.
With what, we attract the animal?
Most frequently, animal liver is used.
The technique ?
With the scale it’s very simple, you stretch on the bottom and respect a pause time long enough for the little beast to come and taste the small piece of meat.
With the line?
With the line it’s a little more complicated but the charm is all the greater. When you spotted the key, the float wriggled. You pull the line gently and slide under the surface of the water a small landing net which will come to receive the greedy one.