FOUR illegal fish traps have been discovered in a North-East river.

Environment Agency officers discovered the traps designed to catch crayfish in the River Wear at Shincliffe, near Durham, on Wednesday night.

Native white-clawed crayfish are a protected species in the UK and trapping them is illegal.

The ban was introduced as part of measures to protect native crayfish from the invading American signal crayfish, which carries a fungal disease which is deadly to the UK species.

Signal crayfish eat their own young, which means if adults are trapped and removed there are not enough to control the population, which can lead to increases in numbers.

Acting on information, officers from the Environment Agency removed the illegal traps and are now investigating.

Kev Summerson, fisheries enforcement technical specialist for the North-East, said: “There are still populations of our indigenous white clawed crayfish in North-East rivers, and this is a protected species which we work hard to safeguard.

“Fishing or trapping crayfish in our rivers is illegal and people need to be aware that anyone involved in such activity will potentially face enforcement action.”