See the Article in the Herald:

Fish stock fears as American crayfish invade Glasgow river - Herald Scotland


Is this a huge ecological disaster or a bit of scaremongering by a journalist who wants to see his name in print? After all, it isn’t exactly a breaking news story.

The River Kelvin Angling Association (RKAA) announced on its website on Nov 8th, 2010 that “Three specimens of the American signal crayfish were recovered from the River Kelvin this summer.”

I am not sure why it has been mentioned at this time.
Like you said it has been known for a while.

It may help kick the goverment up the **** to raise funds to deal with them as UCAPA has had their funding pulled last year.

It is worrying

Munro

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The Kelvin Angling Association seems to be giving mixed messages.

When they announced the discovery of the American Signal Crayfish they also urged their members to read a website giving tips on preventing the spread of a disease that is harmful to native crayfish. So they seem keen on preserving native crayfish which, I suppose, do not undermine river banks or eat fish eggs?

And on the same day that the RKAA announced the discovery of the American Signal Crayfish they also announced they were calling an Extraordinary General Meeting. The minutes of their discussion on this “serious threat to the native biodiversity of the Kelvin system (and beyond)” have not been made public.

What native crayfish are these then?

There are only two isolated populations of native crayfish in Scotland. However, Scottish anglers travelling south of the border should take care not spread the plague to any of the English or Welsh native crayfish.

These two populations you refer to are the white-clawed crayfish, Austropotamobius pallipes and whilst they are established in a couple of locations in the NW they are certainly NOT native and are every bit as alien to Scotland as the Signal Crayfish.

personaly i like cray fish boiled or poached i dont mind

Boiled with lots of lemon, onion, cayenne pepper and garlic

Homemade Crawfish Trap | eHow.com

The key to the 'bait' is fresh bits of fish trimmings.

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Do not trap them. It is at best counter productive and at worst will encourage others to spread them around other rivers, thinking that they are good to trap and eat. There is nothing effective that can be done remove them. You can only hope that the river is not entirely to their liking.

You also need a licence to trap crayfish.

Yes they are a disaster.

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