Statutory guidance

White-clawed crayfish: licence to catch them to carry out maintenance (CL23)

Register for a licence to catch and relocate white-clawed crayfish for maintenance work on water bodies and find out how to report your actions.

Applies to England

Documents

Registration form (CL23a)

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Report your actions (LR23)

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Details

This licence allows you to catch and relocate white-clawed crayfish (also called Atlantic stream crayfish) between 1 July and 30 September to maintain water bodies, such as rivers, lakes, ponds and canals.

You can catch white-clawed crayfish by:

Register to use this licence

You must register with Natural England before you can use licence CL23. Send your completed registration form (CL23a) by email or post to:

Wildlife licensing

Natural England
Horizon House
Deanery Road
Bristol
BS1 5AH

Email wildlife@naturalengland.org.uk

Telephone 020 8026 1089

You don’t need to register if you have a personal survey licence.

How to report your actions

You must report your actions taken using this licence each year. Send your completed report form (LR23) to Natural England by 31 January each year using the details on the form.

You must also submit details of any crayfish found to the Biological Records Centre.

Licence renewal

By returning your report form each year you’ve renewed your licence. You should check for any amendments to the terms and conditions of use on the latest published version of this licence.

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2016
Last updated 1 January 2024 + show all updates
  1. There is an update to this licence for 1 January 2024.

  2. Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2023.

  3. Annual licence update, valid from 1 January 2022.

  4. Annual licence update.

  5. Accessible version of licence added - HTML.

  6. Accessible version of the licence added - HTML.

  7. Replaced licence registration form CL23a with updated version.

  8. Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2020

  9. Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2019. Replaced registration form with updated version.

  10. Replaced licence with new version issued 1 January 2018

  11. Annual licence update 2017.

  12. First published.

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