chav professor
Well-known member
Am I the only one who feels we are amnipulated to be anti otter etc?
Dear Angling Times,
Despair at otter farce.
The Angling media have been very misleading on reporting the effects that otters and cormorants have on our nation’s fisheries. I have read G whiteheads letter (Defra: stupid or dishonest) and despair.
G Williams wants a ‘proper analysis to establish the impact of otters on wild fish populations’. Well, the science of predator/prey relationships is very well understood. The first point we need to remember is that fish are part of a complex food web where organisms are prey or food items. Otters will prey on fish and be very successful – only if there is lots of fish to feed their young. When they become too successful, i.e. the fish population declines, otter numbers will decline allowing fish populations to boom due to less predation. Natural systems are self sustaining and sort themselves out. There is often a debate about why a certain species of fish has managed to grow to extraordinary proportions, we call these specimen fish. Rivers and closed systems like lakes can only support a certain amount of biomass. With fewer fish surviving due to predation, the fish that survive actually thrive because there is less competition. These eat well, grow big and reproduce. The reason why rivers and natural lakes contain specimen fish is all down to predation. For example, many of us started fishing in lakes stuffed full of stunted roach or perch, often because misguided individuals removed the pike, a predator we have now grown to love and understand!
We have created an artificial world based on giving anglers ‘what they want’. Want to catch big carp? Build a lake and stock it with specimen fish. Wants to catch lots of fish? Build a lake and overstock it to obscene proportions so anyone can catch. Then factor in how tackle companies have capitalised on manufacturing tackle to enable anglers to fish these lakes with the right gear. I can see why the otter has come under the firing line. Of course you will be upset if you have had a carp that cost you £15 000 pounds to replace eaten. Of course you will be distraught because you have to keep replacing your expensive fish stocks in your commercial match lake. But to create an unnatural situation requiring the destruction of a predator that is indigenous to the UK should indicate where this problem lies. Even in rivers and natural lakes otters will destroy a desirable specimen – this is to be expected, though equally distressing. This is probably due to the otter population struggling, and remembers that the status quo will re-establish itself.
By all means build a dream lake or match pool, but it should be expected that otters will cause devastation in an artificially managed fishery. Why should otters be persecuted due the selfish requirements of the modern angler. We often talk about our sport being under treat from the ‘anti’s’. Well I am actually embarrassed to be associated with a sport that is being manipulated into taking an anti stance on otters and cormorants. There is a ray of light, G.Williams would like to see the government pressured into tackling existing water framework directive targets and giving protection to breeding fish. Well, I practically guarantee that if anglers united under the aims of improving water habitats you could expect full support from organisations like the Wildlife Trust, R.S.P.B, etc. on common ground issues. You would be surprised who the Norfolk Angling Conservation Association worked in collaboration with to achieve their goals in improving fishing on a declining river system.
Dear Angling Times,
Despair at otter farce.
The Angling media have been very misleading on reporting the effects that otters and cormorants have on our nation’s fisheries. I have read G whiteheads letter (Defra: stupid or dishonest) and despair.
G Williams wants a ‘proper analysis to establish the impact of otters on wild fish populations’. Well, the science of predator/prey relationships is very well understood. The first point we need to remember is that fish are part of a complex food web where organisms are prey or food items. Otters will prey on fish and be very successful – only if there is lots of fish to feed their young. When they become too successful, i.e. the fish population declines, otter numbers will decline allowing fish populations to boom due to less predation. Natural systems are self sustaining and sort themselves out. There is often a debate about why a certain species of fish has managed to grow to extraordinary proportions, we call these specimen fish. Rivers and closed systems like lakes can only support a certain amount of biomass. With fewer fish surviving due to predation, the fish that survive actually thrive because there is less competition. These eat well, grow big and reproduce. The reason why rivers and natural lakes contain specimen fish is all down to predation. For example, many of us started fishing in lakes stuffed full of stunted roach or perch, often because misguided individuals removed the pike, a predator we have now grown to love and understand!
We have created an artificial world based on giving anglers ‘what they want’. Want to catch big carp? Build a lake and stock it with specimen fish. Wants to catch lots of fish? Build a lake and overstock it to obscene proportions so anyone can catch. Then factor in how tackle companies have capitalised on manufacturing tackle to enable anglers to fish these lakes with the right gear. I can see why the otter has come under the firing line. Of course you will be upset if you have had a carp that cost you £15 000 pounds to replace eaten. Of course you will be distraught because you have to keep replacing your expensive fish stocks in your commercial match lake. But to create an unnatural situation requiring the destruction of a predator that is indigenous to the UK should indicate where this problem lies. Even in rivers and natural lakes otters will destroy a desirable specimen – this is to be expected, though equally distressing. This is probably due to the otter population struggling, and remembers that the status quo will re-establish itself.
By all means build a dream lake or match pool, but it should be expected that otters will cause devastation in an artificially managed fishery. Why should otters be persecuted due the selfish requirements of the modern angler. We often talk about our sport being under treat from the ‘anti’s’. Well I am actually embarrassed to be associated with a sport that is being manipulated into taking an anti stance on otters and cormorants. There is a ray of light, G.Williams would like to see the government pressured into tackling existing water framework directive targets and giving protection to breeding fish. Well, I practically guarantee that if anglers united under the aims of improving water habitats you could expect full support from organisations like the Wildlife Trust, R.S.P.B, etc. on common ground issues. You would be surprised who the Norfolk Angling Conservation Association worked in collaboration with to achieve their goals in improving fishing on a declining river system.
