Comparison of Two Traps Used for Capturing Wild Crayfish

We compared two passive wire traps for trapping wild crayfish—a trap designed specifically for capturing crayfish and a minnow trap commonly adapted for this purpose. We investigated crayfish capture efficiency, retention of captured crayfish, and capture of non-target finfishes for both trap types in mesocosm and field experiments. The crayfish traps captured more crayfish than the minnow traps in both settings. The minnow traps better retained captured crayfish; however, they also captured significantly more non-target finfishes. We conclude that the crayfish trap performed better than minnow traps for the capture of wild crayfish.