Fight Against Predators

Chris Campbell · Sep 17, 2012

There are a lot of things out there like cormorant watch Cormorant Watch and the predator action group The Predation Action Group : Safeguarding Fisheries From Predation. But how are they getting on when is something going to be done before it's too late. Is anything going to be done or are all of us who are posting all these messages on facebook etc report sightings of cormorants till your blue in the face just wasting our time. Hope all the efforts of all who is helping out especially the guys who are on it all the time is worth while.

mark brailsford 2 · Sep 17, 2012

I have come to the conclusion that the only people concerned about predators are very selfish or very arrogant and only care about the welfare of their own little bit of ''river'' but want everyone else to ''join in'' and ''become one'' so they can help rid THEIR little bit of countryside from these ''vermin'' and sod what the general public think...just the thing you need to turn folk against angling...GOOD ON YER!!!

tuolumne fisher · Sep 18, 2012

it seems to me that certain populations in certain areas are most definitely a problem
however, if fish stocks and the environment were as they were meant to be, it has yet to be stated whether they would be a problem
as a consequence I see cormorants/predation as yet another spoke in the wheel of that which is our aquatic environment, if other spokes were repaired then cormorants/predation would have less effect
it is obvious that calls for culls will alienate most non anglers, dont expound shooting, go to their nesting colonies and oil their eggs and you will see a year on year decline

even the rspb, held up by all and sundry as the shining example of success, keep stum about the estimated 6 million domestic cats, that kill an estimated 20 - 30 million birds
meaning, despite all the hard earned going on bird food, those same people find denegrating the domestic cat unpallatable

mark brailsford 2 · Sep 18, 2012

amushroom said:
even the rspb, held up by all and sundry as the shining example of success, keep stum about the estimated 6 million domestic cats, that kill an estimated 20 - 30 million birds
meaning, despite all the hard earned going on bird food, those same people find denegrating the domestic cat unpallatable

Your right there Mush!

Chris Campbell · Sep 18, 2012

Well the other side of the coin is some people don't have a problem on their waters with predators destroying them so they could not give a toss about the people who are having problems. As for the RSPB it's ok for them to get culls on deer to suit themselves. If people don't want to get involved with the predator problem and want to concentrate on their fishing fair enough. But it is a problem in some areas. I would not say all the people trying to do something about are selfish. They just have the bottle to stand up for what they enjoy doing. It's like I find some of people who stick up for the EU poachers are people who don't have the bottle to confront them. Some people do but just would rather go out and enjoy their fishing without any problems.

Paul Boote · Sep 18, 2012

Pike, perch, notable visiting aliens catfish and zander, chub at all times, barbel in the spring...

Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for Me!

And as for Ramblers and dogwalkers (and ruddy kids, for that matter) who can really ruin a nice day out...

Where does it stop, I wonder?

no-one in particular · Sep 19, 2012

I believe an owner of a fishery can apply for a license to shoot and cull cormorants on his fishery where they are a problem. I would expect there are many gun clubs that would undertake this work for free if asked. This seems a fair enough solution to me but, I do not know how this works in practice. How often do club and fishery owners apply for this?

Peter Jacobs · Sep 19, 2012

markg said:
I believe an owner of a fishery can apply for a license to shoot and cull cormorants on his fishery where they are a problem

Well, yes, to a point . . . .

Here is what the Angling trust have to say on the matter;

"Predators that eat fish are part of the natural ecosystem, and sustainable levels of predation are important for the health of fish populations because predators tend to select injured, sick or old fish.

However, there are many places where ecosystems are not natural or where fish populations are suffering from other impacts, which means that predators can cause major problems to fisheries. Introducing predators to fisheries which are suffering from weak fish populations because of pollution, over-abstraction, or lack of cover for fish, is utterly irresponsible. Anglers who try to apply for licences to shoot cormorants and goosanders find the process far too bureaucratic and the licences are often inadequate for the purpose. One of our members had 85 cormorants sitting on a pylon overlooking his fishery, and was given a licence to shoot 2!

There have been recent proposals to release beavers back into the wild. While they don't eat fish, they do build dams and destroy bankside vegetation. Until our river systems are completely restored and man-made barriers to fish are all removed, such a move should not even be contemplated.

Fisheries in certain parts of the country are suffering from predation from cormorants, goosanders, seals and otters. The Angling Trust carried out a survey of our members in 2009 and received many reports of tame otters which indicates that they are still being released into the wild against official guidelines."

no-one in particular · Sep 19, 2012

Thanks Peter, I kind of guessed that would be the answer but, thought it worth inquiring. You know I know of at least a couple of places where cormorants exist on bird watching land in large numbers and where no fishing is allowed.. And I guess there are quite a few places throughout the land the same. These should be more than enough to satisfy the bird watching community. I like bird watching and I am happy enough to go to these places if I wanted to see cormorants. Culling them on fisheries would not disturb this population for the bird watchers. I don't understand why this is not easily resolved with a bit of common sense and give and take. Or perhaps I do !!

Colin Brett · Sep 19, 2012

markg said:
You know I know of at least a couple of places where cormorants exist on bird watching land in large numbers and where no fishing is allowed.. And I guess there are quite a few places throughout the land the same. These should be more than enough to satisfy the bird watching community. I like bird watching and I am happy enough to go to these places if I wanted to see cormorants. Culling them on fisheries would not disturb this population for the bird watchers. I don't understand why this is not easily resolved with a bit of common sense and give and take. Or perhaps I do !!

Places where you can watch Cormorants and no fishing is allowed are not generally where Cormorants feed. Take Paxton Pits nature reserve near Huntingdon for example, there's nothing in those pits for the Cormorants to feed on, they've eaten it all, so they head off to Grafham just over the A1 to feed. They then head back to Paxton to roost.

no-one in particular · Sep 20, 2012

Colin Brett said:
Places where you can watch Cormorants and no fishing is allowed are not generally where Cormorants feed. Take Paxton Pits nature reserve near Huntingdon for example, there's nothing in those pits for the Cormorants to feed on, they've eaten it all, so they head off to Grafham just over the A1 to feed. They then head back to Paxton to roost.

i imagine that's right Collin, there will be no perfect solution and nature will behave as it wants, regardless of what we do. But, my main point was that there are plenty of places were Cormorants nest and can be studied and looked at for bird watchers and culling them in areas for fishermen would not affect them a great deal. As a bird watcher, I have no problem with that and nor should other bird watchers in my opinion. That culling them on fisheries would have a great affect, as you point out, may not be but, there must some affect that would help fisheries with the problem, if only they could get on with it !

The only problem I have with culling is; will it help in the very long term, Have the Cormorants on a fishery had an effect on other predators, kingfishers, pike, perch etc by reducing the food available to them. Take away the Cormorants and would there be an explosion of these predators. Is there a status quo that nature will maintain in the long term whatever predators, and how ever many of them there are. Don't know but, I think about these things sometimes.

Paul Boote · Sep 20, 2012

Never been one for "disappearing" the inconvenient, me, but, in the case of cormorants (and cormorants only), I believe that some judicious culling would benefit not merely the end-users (us) but the waters themselves. As a teenager I witnessed the war waged against cormorants on the Avon just below Salisbury by the well-known river-keeper Tom Williams and his fellow gamekeepers and estate workers, initially at their bankside roost, "The Cormorant Tree", close to the village of Charlton All Saints, then anywhere on the estate they were seen to perch or feed. The war was won; the river and its carriers heaved with big roach.

Chris Campbell · Sep 20, 2012

Untitled Document This is a good site with lots of facts about cormorants and how to go about getting a license to shoot them. The last I seen the birds had schedule 1 protection, which is the same protection status as a Red Kite or Osprey. This is madness as they are hardly an endangered species. There have been nearly 80.000 sightings of the birds on www.cormorantwatch.org inland alone so for them to have this protection status just cannot be justified.

Chris Campbell · Sep 22, 2012

Action on Cormorants - The Angling Trust Looks like the anglers trust are starting to get somewhere with this now what they want people to do is send one of the post cards in this link to your local mp. Should be able to get a post card from a tackle shop near you if you can't the tackle shop can order them in from the anglers trust.The more people that do this the better!!!

tuolumne fisher · Sep 23, 2012

be jesus, something that cant communicate with us, and aint got no friends, and the ATr looks like its winning
if they struggle against cormorants, they got no chance with the water companies, hydropower, etc etc
why is it that these legal counsel, retired mp, and other illuminaries, can raise £50k from the angling industry to expound culling, but cant ask the water companies to stop eliminating gene pools from our watercourses

Fight Against Predators

Chris Campbell

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mark brailsford 2

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tuolumne fisher

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mark brailsford 2

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Chris Campbell

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Paul Boote

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no-one in particular

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Peter Jacobs

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Colin Brett

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no-one in particular

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Paul Boote

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Chris Campbell

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Chris Campbell

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tuolumne fisher

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