Keeping crayfish as ornamental animals

There are legislative controls on the keeping of crayfish species in Britain, designed to provide protection for our single native species the white clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes). These controls have had an impact both on crayfish farming, and on the ornamental fish trade, as they have greatly restricted the keeping and release of non-native species.

This legislation has now been in place for 6 years, but is generally still not well understood by the ornamental fish trade. They fail to appreciate that only one of the many crayfish species available to the trade world-wide can be legally kept throughout Britain for ornamental purposes. This species is the redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus).

Due to the mixture of a lack of knowledge of the legislation, and/or a disregard for it, the ornamental fish industry has continued to import non-native crayfish. Most imports have been of temperate species, which have been illegally imported from non-EU countries on 8T tropical species licences.

Their subsequent keeping in Britain has been an offence under the provisions of the Prohibition of Keeping of Live Fish(Crayfish) Order 1996.

Some crayfish have been legally imported from the EU, but their keeping has still been illegal, and the Fish Health Inspectorate (FHI) has attempted to stop such trade. The FHI with the support of the SVS staff at BIPs have had to take action to remove temperate crayfish from imported consignments, or seize them from any premises where they are being kept illegally.

In order to advise the trade, we have therefore added to the efishbusiness website a section on controls on the Keeping of non-native crayfish in England and Wales.

In addition a "guide to the identification of redclaw crayfish" explains how to recognise Cherax quadricarinatus. This should enable the trade to recognise and avoid any other crayfish, whose keeping would be illegal.