" just out of interest, do you think that otters had completely gone from the Hampshire Avon? How many do you believe were released?
Let me put it this way: I have lived and fished in this areas for many decades and prior to the reintroduction had not seen a single otter for over 30 years.
This year alone I have seen 8 dead on the road which runs parallel with the river here in the upper reaches.
I have no idea, and in all probability no one else does either, as to how many were reintroduced here, either legally or otherwise.
There is a relatively local establishment where there are (allegedly) quite often escapees, well, according the owners they are "escapees"
You would be lucky to see them Peter as they are secretive animals and largely nocturnal hunters. The Otter Trust released 117 captive-bred otters between 1983 and 1999, mostly on East Anglian rivers, but with some elsewhere. The last release was of 17 otters on the upper Thames catchment over a six-month period in 1999.
The Vincent Wildlife Trust released a further 49 rehabilitated animals (i.e. orphaned and injured wild otters kept in captivity until fit for release) between 1990 and 1996, many of these as part of a release programme in Yorkshire.
It is likely that there are several thousand otters present in England today.
The Above is taken directly from the Angling Trust who attribute their recent 'success' to the banning of dieldrin and related pesticide type chemicals which also affected birds and other wildlife. They acknowledge that the recovery of otters in the UK is impacting inland fisheries through predation. The situation is complex, and it is not clear why some waters have not been affected, even though otters are present.
Yes I agree we've never had otters in living memory at today's levels, but numbers have been climbing for over 40 years and its been well known over the last 25 years for most of England. Surveys have been done and reported but largely ignored by clubs and fisheries.
I do know some waters (big complexes) that paid to put otter fencing up 20 years ago. In the same time most have carried on stocking open waters to high levels and some still do.
Some fisheries are overstocked of that there is no denying. I think many who fence now perhaps originally felt they didn't need to when otter population growth was slow or absent in their particular neck of the woods.
Otters catch and eat predominantly live animals; there is limited evidence of dead fish being eaten, although this does occur occasionally. Their average daily consumption of food in captivity is about 1.5kg/day. If what they catch are too large to consume they will only eat the best bit - the head, and discard the rest. As far as I know they do not have a preference for eels as some would believe, carp, roach or any other species -they will eat whatever is available to them.
Many more fish escape been killed but a lot also die from wounds of 'near misses' sometime later. Unfortunately, the bigger fish are often easier to catch.
