frshwater crayfish in Kommati river

[kurt]

hey everyone

went to Kommati to look for soem tigers but our trip got cut short by all the wind and cold front, but what i did discover is that there are allot of freshwater crayfish (American signal crayfish) in the river system.

i believe that they got washed down frow a project in Swaziland (sandriver dam?)

they are apprently very tasty, but do we know anything about this species and the effect on the environment.

 

 

 

[J_Bay]

I've heard they can be quite destructive. Isn't it the same one that is causing all the problems in the British rivers?? If they're the same as what the Americans call Crawfish, then they must be delicious because they sure eat a lot of them over there!

 

[kurt]

yes i believe it is the same , also called crawdads ? thats where all the crayfish like bass lures come from.

i did see that allot of the river banks were full of holes so im sure these guys contribute to bank collapse, but cant they be farmed properly to contribute to the food shortage in Africa? if they are anything like all the other "unwanted" species we wont be bale to get rid of them so might as well put them to good use. i am also sure that our catfish and tiger fish in the Kommati will be growing to huge sizes feeding on these guys..... 

 

[J_Bay]

The problem is that they destroy fish nests, and they're also very resilient. I'm sure the barbel will love them, but they're not afraid to put up a fight so other less aggressive fish suffer from them.

I don't know about the farming of them, but I can't see it being any kind of good that they're in the river in numbers. On the plus side, maybe you can tell us how they taste, lol.

 

[nobbles]

We do farm some fresh water crayfish, the Marroon or macon i think it is from aus. It is extremly difficult to get a permit to farm any crayfish, especially exotic ones. For fear that they will get into natural river sytems. They could be the america crawdad or they could be a fresh water lobster. Both of these will activly predate on the eco system and breed quickly. They will eat alot of the food ment for local species and as said will predate on fish nest. I woudl try and kill every last one of them before any damage can be cuased.

But they would make a great barbel bait.

 

[Jovis]

Unfortunately, there are plenty of them in the Komatipoort area. They are common in the Komati River and surrounding farm dams. I’m not sure how they got there (rumours of a farming project in Mozambique/ Swaziland that went wrong..) but like most foreign species,and as Nobbles noted, they are quite destructive to our local river systems.
When fishing with bait for tigers/barbel one often catch them. Some of the locals also catch them in traps. I haven’t tried them but apparently they are quite tasty.

Whilst bass fishing 2 weeks ago in a private dam I noticed the tentacles (voelers) of the crayfish sticking out from the stomach when looking down the bass’s throats in some of the fish we caught. They are properly unable to regurgitate the crayfish as easy as they do with the rest of the tummy contents. We only fished top water, but next time I’ll definitely throw some speed craws and other crawdad/crayfish imitations.

Attached one of the crayfish – they get bigger!

 

[Jovis]

two of the bass where we could see the crayfish tentacles sticking out from their stomachs

 

[Jovis]

.

 

[biongbiong]

Hi

Just wanted to ask if there are crayfish by the komati lodge??

Thx

 

[Jovis]

Plenty of them in that area. We boiled and braaied some of them this weekend. Tasty, very similar to their saltwater cousins..Please kill as many as you can!

 

[Jovis]

.

 

[Jovis]

.

 

[BigBen]

Jovis wrote:

Plenty of them in that area. We boiled and braaied some of them this weekend. Tasty, very similar to their saltwater cousins..Please kill as many as you can!

And no lisence required????...Looks quite apetising...

 

[rianc]

Looks lekka, but I unfortunately dont eat any fresh water specimen in SA. Being in the hydrological and surface water environment, the water quality in our river systems is so degraded and of low quality due to environmental legislations not being implemented and controlled. Our sanitation systems, even in the bigger municipalities it is non existend or redundent.

Eventhough this might seem as a negative response, its not! Its the reality. But I ever like the idea to have these creatures in a controlled environment and it might become a nice starter on your plate.

 

[HennieB]

I reckon that would make a good baber bait.

 

[Droomvanger]

This is bad news for the environment. There was an article on these crayfish in Stywe Lyne / Tight Lines in Feb 2013 issue, written by Prof Ben van der Waal.

 

[Enigma]

They destroy the river beds and burrow into the banks causing huge damage.

They have destroyed huge tracts of waterways all over Europe recently and the Eu is declaring war on them but fear it is already to late.

 

[Jovis]

@Big Ben: you have a licence to kill...if you look at some of the previous posts in this thread you will see that they are a huge problem. One of the most invasive species in the world.

@Droomvanger&Enigma:
Dr Ben van der Waal se artikel was in April se Stywe Lyne. Ek het met hom kontak gemaak. Die goed vervuil behoorlik in die Komati en omringende damme. Mpumalanga parkeraad is bewus daarvan maar lyk my nie daar is veel wat mens daaraan kan doen nie. Mens moet maar keer dat hulle nie verder versprei nie en soveel as moontlik probeer dood maak..

 

[Jazz]

Seeing as how these pests are rather tasty little buggers, could the powers that be not implement a harvesting/eradication program and use the catch as a food source for the surrounding local underprivaliged population!? Or are there health and quality issues wrt cunsuming these critters?

As I see it, like any other lobster/crayfish species these guys are probably ravenous scavengers so surely bombarding the affected river systems with specialized lobster pots would put a major dent in the population of this invasive species while allowing the safe release of any indigenous species caught in the traps!?

Just my 5zim dollars.

 

[BigBen]

Jazz wrote:

Seeing as how these pests are rather tasty little buggers, could the powers that be not implement a harvesting/eradication program and use the catch as a food source for the surrounding local underprivaliged population!? Or are there health and quality issues wrt cunsuming these critters?

As I see it, like any other lobster/crayfish species these guys are probably ravenous scavengers so surely bombarding the affected river systems with specialized lobster pots would put a major dent in the population of this invasive species while allowing the safe release of any indigenous species caught in the traps!?

Just my 5zim dollars.

wOw So you know how to surf the net>>>

Commercialise their good eating and someone cud b in buss to harvest supply of a demand..