TWO men who dedicate their lives to catching American invaders in Oxfordshire's waterways say there are plenty more Crayfish in the sea.

Dale Oram and Roger Sellars, who have been fishing together between Oxford and Abingdon for the past three years, hope their "labour of love" will bring in more fish this year than ever before.

Mr Oram, 46, from Abingdon, said: "We're planning to set double the amount of traps when the season starts up again in May.

"We caught seven-and-a-half tonnes of 'signal crayfish' last year by fishing right the way from Reading up to Oxford station.

"There are absolutely loads of them."

The signal crayfish was first introduced in Europe in the 1960s to supplement fisheries being damaged by crayfish plague.

But the imports turned out to be a carrier of the same disease, killing off a great deal of the British white-clawed crayfish.

The invaders wreak have on riverbanks by digging unstable tunnels causing dramatic bank erosion in addition to feeding on small fish and fish eggs and reducing the breeding population of fish stock in the county.

Mr Oram said: "Not only is catching lots of crayfish good for business but it's good for the rivers because the crayfish do a lot of damage to the county's waterways.

"But we obviously don't want to encourage more people to head out there and illegally try and catch more crayfish to improve the rivers.

"It's got to be done properly to ensure the safety of otters and water voles."

Mr Oram said working as a crayfisherman is a "full-on" job, which requires the pair to fish on Mr Sellars' boat from 4.30am between May and November every day.

The pair often fish for 18 hour stints in the hope of bringing in a big batch.

But from December until May, Mr Oram works as a commercial van driver to supplement his income.

He said: "If I could fish throughout the winter and all year round I would do so because this really is a labour of love for us.

"Our crayfish is exported to many countries in Europe including Sweden and Finland, which is really great.

"Crayfishing is my favourite way to spend my time."