Crayfish Regulations

As someone who moved here from New Orleans 10 years ago, I look forward to our annual crawfish boil where I gather with my friends and have been able to introduce Coloradans to a piece of the culture I love, but that's just about me.

The issue is bigger than that. There are restaurants, vendors and stores all over the metro area who depend on the crawfish season to make a living and feed their families. Many businesses exist because of their ability to sell live crawfish and/or boiled crawfish that have been brought in live. This is not just a Louisiana transplant thing, as there is a significant Vietnamese market that is likely bigger than us Southerners.

Crawfish have been brought into Colorado for many years by many people and we have no population of red crawfish in our water ways. If this was going to be an issue, it would already be one due to the amount of live crawfish that are brought in every season. I don't think anyone would pay the expense (and it's expensive) of bringing crawfish in and not boil every one of them. I know we certainly don't.

Even if some study shows that a species of crayfish will be invasive or create other harm to our aquatic ecosystems history has shown us that it can take many years/many generations before a species behaves invasively and harmful lyrics. Our aquatic ecosystems are under enough stress, do not allow import of live crayfish of any non native species.

NO! For what reason? It's too risky! If someone wants to be able to catch crawfish or whatever, they should go to Louisana and get them there. Also, take a look on how Utah messed with the Great Salt Lake and threw the natural ecosystem out of whack. Think about the future generations, not just the money or some newcomers wanting suggestion.

I am opposed to banning the importation of the red swamp crawfish (Procambarus Clarkii) without a study on their shell thickness. They are thinner than the rusty crayfish and cannot survive at the cold temperatures in Colorado. Also nobody is going to pay a premium to import crawfish and then set them free in a waterway. Every single one is getting eaten. Please leave a pathway for Louisiana natives to legally honor their heritage by boiling and eating crawfish live.

Allowing importation of any non-native species will inevitably lead to someone releasing them into our Colorado ecosystem. Unfortunately there is little or no way to know how this will impact native species and the associated ecosystems.

Please don't mess with mother nature and don't import any potentially invasive species along with the bacteria, virus, fungus, algae, amoeba and whatever else they may carry into Colorado Waters.

Colorado's population is growing super fast and so a good measure of restraint and protection is required and sensible with regards to exactly this.

Also humans are notoriously bad at predicting species invasion and all of the impact...

We work so hard to re-populate NATIVE species that have been decimated that it seems absurd to play with fire.

Please make an exception for at least restaurants, caterers and/or the public via permit in order to ship in live Louisiana Crawfish for human consumption. This is by far the most common sense and least governmental restriction to remedy this solution. If you won't allow it live for anyone, then a permitting process or licensing process for restaurants, caterers and special events permits is the next best approach. I have been boiling for events since 2008 and will continue to do so, regardless of the governmental restriction. You can make anything illegal, but as human nature shows us, we will still get it. I will get crawfish, but of course I'd like it to be legal. If you won't use common sense and help with a compromise than that is the government's fault, not the fault of everyone who loves and enjoys eating boiled crawfish, seasonally from January to July. I'd be open to testifying and/or giving more information. But what I can say is that I estimate that I've shipped in over 20,000 pounds of live crawfish since 2008 and I've never released a single one into any Colorado water way. Each one has been boiled alive and eaten or disposed of after cooked. Thank you for your time. Please, do the right thing and compromise. I'm disheartened by many comments of the "locals" who have no idea what true culture is and how Louisiana Crawfish are used in Colorado.

Nobody is paying the already high cost to ship live Louisiana crawfish overnight to not eat them. The only water those crawfish ever find in Colorado is a big pot of boiling seasoned water. They barely survive south Louisiana cold fronts, they most definitely wouldn’t survive a Colorado winter. Every year, thousands of people in Colorado look forward to enjoying crawfish boils with friends and family, completely harmless gatherings of people centered around a harmless crustacean delicacy.

The importation of a species not indigenous to the state is always problematic. Unforeseen consequences are always possible. The position that these are just for consumption, and not to be introduced into Colorado waterways, cannot be assured with live animals. There are examples of how this gets out of control.

I'm sure live crayfish are better to eat than Frozen but if this is an issue then stop importation of all live crayfish and be done with it. All it takes is one person to release a bag of these into a body of water and then we will be draining reservoirs and spending millions of dollars to HOPING to fix the problem. Not a whole lot different than somebody releasing their pet Snakehead fish or Burmese in Florida. 1 or 2 people will ruin it for everyone. Given enough time, it not matter of if that will happen but when. Sorry guys and I love a crawfish boil later next person.

Me and my husband are avid fishers and while we love using the local crayfish in the lake for live bait...it is ridiculous the sheer numbers that are in the lakes. They reproduce far too fast and die too slow hence why they are qualified as an invasive species. With that being said, to alow the import of any species of crayfish is only going to ultimately compound the situation and continue to raise the invasion. Not only does this make fishing more difficult with the fish having more food than they can possibly eat in a lifetime, but it causes a negative impact on the eco system and advances the inevitability of Lake occurrences such as blue algae. The level of decay is natural yet part of the cycle of life and promoter of healthy eco systems, however, in abundance it causes too much decay and promotes things such as blue algae amongst other issues. It doesn't need to be said that whether it's legal or not the crayfish will likely find their way in here like various other items and substances that have been banned or regulated. However, in the interest of preserving our lakes and their inhabitants, allowing crayfish to be imported is only going to advance the inevitability of additional crayfish to be finding their way into our lakes. Both me and my husband agree that allowance of their import would be far more damaging to the nature that many of us love and enjoy than it would be damaging to the businesses that dish the crayfish up for meals. With many other items they would inevitably have on their menu, if they lose a substantial amount of business because they can't or don't serve crayfish then it is my thoughts that the lack of crayfish is not of the biggest issues that hurt their business.

CPW- you just need to be sure folks don't dump them live- who would do that anyway??

Humans are consuming them not relocating them to CO waters- who would ever just relocate live daddies unless they were going to farm them- we are their biggest predators anyway.

There is quite the market for live crawdads now with all the NOLA boilers in town- I say let dem
Mud bugs prosper and let us fish them with all dis rain now

"Invasive species" ?? Well that is just a poor marketing- there are worse invasive species in our Gold Metal waters…

Colorado has a large cohort of Katrina victims all paying their taxes here so why not let us eat our hearts out; shew wee taxpayers natives love ‘em too🦞

Unless there is evidence backed reason to believe a Louisiana crawfish species would thrive through Colorado winters and disrupt ecosystems I think they should be permitted. While I enjoy the occasional crawfish I’m not crazy about them. I do however love blue crabs which are extremely difficult to obtain live in Colorado. The cost for Anthony and his business to purchase blue crabs and the loss they have from die off make it too difficult to make a profit transporting and selling them. Anthony and his company offer blue crabs ( when in season) and many other seafood options that have too thin a profit margin to justify the trip. However, the crawfish profits make up the difference and allow them to secure, transport, and sell these other delicious seafood items while still running a profitable business.

https://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Pages/News-Release-Details.aspx?NewsID=3871

THE ARTICLE THAT FIRST LEAD ME HERE WAS MISLEADING AND INFORMS THE PUBLIC INCORRECTLY OF THE INTENTIONS OF IMPORTATION OF RED SWAMP CRAWFISH…
HUMAN CONSUMPTION NOT TO BE INTRODUCED YO THE WATERWAYS.

NOWHERE IN THR CPW’s press release does it say anything about introducing them into Colorado Waters.

Being an Air Force Academy family, we enjoy bringing a little bit of home to the parents of cadets and cadets as well so as to have a little glimpse into the tradition of down south. The act of having a crawfish boil is equivalent to a family barbeque when crawfish are in season. It is the fellowship being had as well as good food.

There seems to be nowhere in Colorado that isn't overwhelmed with invasive species. We don't need another.

seems like a no-brainer. no live crayfish brought to colorado waters. i already have too many in my irrigation ditches. raccons love em. they DO make good bass bait too.

Prior to April 2023 the law stated that crawfish could not be transported across the Continental Divide, not the entire state of Colorado. Since April 2023 the Fish and Wildlife Commission have been changing regulations to suit their agenda of putting one specific 'Out of state sea food dealer' out of business, due to personal small biz disputes. Seems fishy doesn't it? This law had no authority along the I25 corridor, but was being used as a tool for small biz disputes to the detriment of Co citizens ability to purchase live crawfish for personal use.

This revision has since spurred major price gouging among the limited few that are currently afforded rights to purchase LA crawfish.

These crawfish are sold for consumption, not bait. Even if they were purchased for bait purposes; Louisiana crawfish can barely survive harsher LA winters, let alone Co winters.

The fact that the law was unjustly enforced, rewritten to suit current agendas, and now you are finally asking the citizens for input speaks volumes about the incompetence of those in charge.

If Louisiana crawfish are sold and transported live to ANY CO restaurants, then they should also be sold to citizens to avoid the price gouging currently happening since April 2023.

Either enforce for all or allow all citizens east of the CD to continue to purchase as was done prior to April 2023.

Please stop letting the public make these decisions. The public is ignorant about most issues.
"oooohhh crayfish and wolves, so pretty" -the public.
Maybe biologists and environmental scientists should make these decisions.

I’m in support of the importation. Based on a recent public meeting I listened in on there has not been any field studies in over a decade Pertaining to the release of crawfish. In fact the studies that were completed were not even completed in CO. I do not believe that the reds that we are discussing could even survive the cold water temperatures here in CO. Is there genuine concern that someone would release them? I can’t imagine someone paying $5-$10 a pound would be throwing them away and the retailers could easily offload product rather than throwing them into the waters