AURORA, Colo. — It's not hard to find crawfish at Cherry Creek State Park if you know where to look. Catching them is a different story.
"Yeah, this is definitely the hard way," Colorado Parks and Wildlife's statewide public information officer Joey Livingston said.
Snagging mud bugs was a favorite pastime for him and his friends growing up in Indiana. On this day, though, his net didn't have small enough holes to catch the critters.
"I know they're in here. It was a tiny one. I almost had him," he said as another one got away.
He wanted to show us what CPW is trying to protect amid growing interest in out of state crawfish for food. Not every Colorado crawfish is tiny, but none are as big or aggressive as the Red Swamp Crawfish from Louisiana.
Live imports of Red Swamp Crawfish are banned right now. But Livingston told 9NEWS that Parks and Wildlife investigated 10 years of illegal live Louisiana Crawfish imports. Some people in Colorado clearly want to be able to eat them, and Livingston's colleagues are taking note.
"One of our goals is to perpetuate the wildlife resources of the state, which includes protecting our native species, but we're also accountable to the people of the state as well," he said.
Being accountable to the people doesn't mean the people always get what they want. There are many factors the Parks and Wildlife Commission will consider when they meet in August to decide what to do about the crawfish.
"Biological factors are going to be a huge part of that, whether we're able to make regulations that can sufficiently protect our waters while still allowing people to import and consume these," Livingston said.
Accidents happen, and an alien crawdad is already invading Colorado's waters. Livingston says the Rusty Crawfish was brought over from the Ohio River Valley for fishing bait. That species is spreading in the Yampa River and nearby reservoirs.
"The rusty crayfish is larger and more aggressive than our native species and does outcompete them for resources," he said.
Louisiana crawfish could outcompete native species, too. If CPW determines it can safely allow live ones to cross state lines, you could find them on menu near you soon.
Public comment is open through the end of July. If you want to weigh in, you can send your comments to CPW with this link.
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