Clearing the double layered license system

In order to fish for anything in the River Don, you need to have TWO separate licenses: ONE from the central government, and THE OTHER from the regional anglers association. In Doncaster, fisheries including the River Don is managed by Doncaster and district angling association (DDAA Website: https://ddaa.co.uk/ They are most active on Facebook).

The government license can be obtained via the website (https://get-fishing-licence.service.gov.uk/buy/licence-for) or more conveniently via a local Post Office. The cost of a rod license is £6/day, £12/8 days, £30/12 months. To buy a 12-month license, you need National Insurance number.

DDAA, for the year of 2022, has already sold out licenses. This means, you can only pay on the spot when a bailiff comes around (£5/day). If you don’t encounter a bailiff, you don’t need to pay. E.g. if you go for a 8-day rod license, you pay £6.5/day (including the cost of DDAA).

No Trap allowed for the crayfish

The Environment Agency stopped issuing crayfish trap licenses approx. about 6 years ago. The reason behind is to prevent the invasive plague from spreading. Especially in Yorkshire, they have a stricter measure in place: crayfish app refusal new.2.docx

How can you catch crayfish?

In order to kill signal crayfish, you need a trap license. But the EA has stopped issuing new ones. How can you then possibly catch crayfish? You can still obtain a normal rod license. Why not try to "accidentally" fish for the invasive crayfish?

The EA says if you "bycatch" signal crayfish, you can humanely kill it:

Bycatch (accidental capture)

If you accidentally catch a listed crayfish or crab and can humanely kill it, you should do so. You must not take it home live.

If you cannot kill it humanely, you can release it immediately back where you caught it. Report when you’ve done this on IRecord so it can be logged and added to national databases to:

・protect endangered native animals
・be used in management activities

You must not return a listed animal caught as bycatch to any other place than where you caught it.

If you’re not sure if it’s a listed species of crayfish or crab, you should return it alive to the place you caught it. This is so you do not accidentally kill native endangered animals.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/invasive-non-native-alien-animal-species-rules-in-england-and-wales

Accidental fishing apparatus

To "accidentally" catch signal crayfish at the bottom of a river, you can incorporate a crayfish fishing mechanism into a normal carp rig:

Uncertain delivery service

Once you get your licenses and equipment sorted, now it's time to make some money. Make a website featuring the public domain image of the claw of a signal crayfish produced by David Castor (user:dcastor).



Embed a preferred online payment method into the page. In my case, I used PayPal. Now, you have a webapp!

Tell people around you, you have just started a new service. You will bring fried crayfish to people's doors. Make sure that you don't promise WHEN you will deliver and WHETHER you can deliver. Receive the payment in advance.