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This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Action Plan for Fish Predation
Action Plan for Fish Predation
- Thread starter FishingMagic
- Start date
richiekelly
Well-known member
Seems more like a wish list to me although I agree that the ecology of rivers needs improving from the ground up not start at the top with predators but that horse has already bolted.
The bad one
Well-known member
Agree Blanker but an unrealistic wish list in parts. 
mg:
We're told Atr is the only show in town! Yet again a show I've no desire to go and see based on the otter section in it.
ATr you have capitulated to PAG and it's outlandish emotive rubbish that passes for a "report"!
Defra, NE and EA will eat you alive based on that and rightly so in my view!
mg:We're told Atr is the only show in town! Yet again a show I've no desire to go and see based on the otter section in it.
ATr you have capitulated to PAG and it's outlandish emotive rubbish that passes for a "report"!
Defra, NE and EA will eat you alive based on that and rightly so in my view!
I totally agree Phil; the report is at best a weak wish list rather than a proper Action Plan.
The section on cormorant predation is very poor considering the amount of volunteer work that has gone into that particular subject.
I was hoping for much more to be honest. We (anglers) need to sort out this problem as the prime priority within the Angling Trust.
I've read the report a few times, it's got some good ideas.
I think that the Angling Trust has helped angling by getting a slight relaxation in the laws relating to the control of cormorants. The appointment of three cormorant management advisers should eventually lead to clubs making successful applications to control cormorants.
As for control of otters, I'm less optimistic. They are a protected species, indigenous to the UK and they've recovered after a collapse in otter numbers in the forties and fifties. Those who propose culling are unrealistic -public opinion would never allow culling to take place. Anglers can protect smaller stillwaters by erecting fencing, but it may be too expensive to do this on bigger stillwaters. But we can't fence off rivers, which is why fishing in some rivers may decline further.
We expect too much from the Angling Trust. It has done as much as it can to highlight the problem of predation. It's up to angling clubs to renew their attempts to get licences to control cormorants.
I think that the Angling Trust has helped angling by getting a slight relaxation in the laws relating to the control of cormorants. The appointment of three cormorant management advisers should eventually lead to clubs making successful applications to control cormorants.
As for control of otters, I'm less optimistic. They are a protected species, indigenous to the UK and they've recovered after a collapse in otter numbers in the forties and fifties. Those who propose culling are unrealistic -public opinion would never allow culling to take place. Anglers can protect smaller stillwaters by erecting fencing, but it may be too expensive to do this on bigger stillwaters. But we can't fence off rivers, which is why fishing in some rivers may decline further.
We expect too much from the Angling Trust. It has done as much as it can to highlight the problem of predation. It's up to angling clubs to renew their attempts to get licences to control cormorants.