Rusty crayfish invade Oregon’s rivers | Oregon Field Guide

Invasive crayfish from the east have been spotted for the first time west of the Rockies, in a river in Eastern Oregon and a stream in Corvallis. They were shipped to elementary schools for biology classes and then released where they didn’t belong by well-meaning children or their teachers.

This story originally aired on Feb. 17, 2011.

Chapters
0:00 Stray Crayfish West of the Rockies
1:01 Locating Invasive Crayfish
2:02 The Rusty Crayfish’s Invasion of Oregon
3:19 Kids learning from classroom Crayfish
5:00 Responsible Disposal of Classroom Crayfish
6:08 The Spread of Invasive Crayfish
7:06 Credits

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[sundragon]

Crayfish from cool clean streams/rivers tastes great. For the schools, send those crayfish to the Home Economics class for a culinary lesson.

[DollyTheLlama]

"We actually put them in a bag and put them in the freezer, so that was a very painless way for them to go..."
🤣 I can't be the only one who's wondering if the teachers lounge had gumbo in the crock-pot the next day.

[donbolin]

Those children all seemed very bright.

[cepaasch]

Show them how to catch and cook them also.

[xsleep]

How about dragging the companies selling these invasive species into court?

[vickierowland]

Would using native crayfish be an option for use in classrooms?
Are the non native crayfish edible for human consumption and or wildlife rehabilitation centers food sources? Perhaps a possible fishing bait or aquarium food sources?

[PB-jkbl]

Catch n cook!! They make good bait too!

[gregmulligan]

Down here in the south we got a thang called a crawdad boil. Taters, onions, sausage and of course the star of the show, the crawdad. Delicious. Problem solved

[brianjones]

A little Cajun seasoning some potato and corn and your local gas station is in big business. Mud Bugs are good eat'n.

[drata]

Is there an update on this story? It was originally aired 14 years ago?

[sjenkins]

Sounds like it's time to open up crayfishing season!

[kevinostberg]

I grew up there in the 70's catching crawdads and trout out of Canyon Creek and the John Day River. Also, there is a lot of really good Bass fishing further down river toward Spray.

[moriahlyn]

Obviously the teachers need guide lines and information on this. Should come with the lesson. The featured teacher is fantastic

[kylea.]

I used to find a TON of Crayfish in the Rogue River down river from Grants Pass

[RobertCurtin-hicm]

They’ll eventually be replaced by the even more successful invasive Virile Crayfish like has happened here in Maryland. 15
Yrs ago there were Rustysides everywhere replacing our native Spotted and Mole crayfish which I haven’t found a single specimen in years.
All I find here are the Virile crayfish now.

[kecupcakes]

I have been crawdadding in the Big Elk river since I was a kid. Some of my most fond memories. They are vetter then lovster with butter and garlic if you ask me. I take my best friends kids every summer who are 7 and 8 yrs and we have a blast! All native dads.
Also, I am from Philomath/corvallis area, born / raised and ive seen mink in the Dixon creek in particular. They. Are extremely elusive and I was sitting rivers edge for over an hour quietly when I saw them. Mated pair and the swam in sync with eachother. It was amazing to see that! I bring this up because I wondering .. dont they eat krawdads? Maybe we should stop trapping otter and mink? I dont think we should trap anything because we mess up every ecosystem unfortunately. It all boils down to us. No pun intended. . . The food chain doesnt level out as it once did naturally....we are the ones that need population control ultimately

[jayviescas]

Are they edible? Could they be sold to restaurants? I know this is being used in the Caribbean to try and deal with the Lion Fish invasion.

[drewtramp]

Thats scary. Lobster valley just right there also. Maybe they should teach the kids how to cook em to. Noticed how they didnt mention that.

[JOlivier]

fascinating to learn how many laws are really more like suggestions

[russellzauner]

so are they still here? it's been a decade of work, did it pay off?