Abstract

There is a paucity of published information on trapping Australian freshwater crayfish species like the commercially important marron (Cherax tenuimanus). Catch efficiency is measured by the trap’s ability to catch and retain animals of a desired size, and is affected by trap design, depth set and bait used. A series of trials were conducted between September 1999 and November 2000 in eight waterbodies in the south-west of Western Australia with the aim of comparing the catch efficiency of five commonly used freshwater crayfish traps: orange box trap, round blue trap, black opera house trap, green opera house trap, and black rectangular trap. Black opera house traps caught significantly higher numbers of marron than any other trap design (P<0.01). No trap proved effective at capturing marron smaller than 20 g; the orange box trap did not catch marron larger than 160 g, and the round blue trap did not catch marron smaller than 80 g. Black opera house traps displayed the highest retention rate of crayfish, which was significantly higher than the retention rate of the orange box trap (P<0.01). No significant relationship existed between capture depth and weight or number of marron caught. At the sites used in this study, the black opera house trap displayed the highest overall catch efficiency.

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