<blockquote class=quoteheader>Gary Newman wrote (
see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>Are you aware just how much otter-proof fencing costs?</blockquote>
Roughly, yes, but if the fishing is valued enough then it will have to be paid, or it will have to be accepted that the fishing will change in nature. Otters have massive public recognition, legal protection and are the subject of a UK BAP. Anyone using illegal means to deal with them could causeimmeasurable damage to the overall public profile ofangling in the UK. It would be anact ofmindblowing selfishness and stupidity.<blockquote class=quoteheader>Gary Newman wrote (
see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>who is going to fish a water with nothing left in it worth fishing for?
</blockquote>
Depends what you think is worth fishing for. I buy AM every week and always enjoy your articles, and so I'maware of your achievements in specimen angling, but large fish are not inviolate from the process of natural selection, nor are they everyone's focus. I do think AM is byfar the more editorially responsible of the weekly publications, and Ihope this continues.<blockquote class=quoteheader>Gary Newman wrote (
see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>Otters can go through a fisheries' stocks very quickly as they are very wasteful, tending to rip out the throat and eat the internal organs, often leaving the rest of the carcass.</blockquote>
That's not wasteful, that just a predator targeting those fish which are easiest to catch and represent the greatest catch per unit effort. The trouble is with the highly artificial stock profiles that have been created. The fisherieseither have to accept that they are part of the natural environment, with the inherent unpredictability,or isolate themselves from predation pressures by legal artificial means.
If someone released their prize-winning chickens into a field, and they started to get nabbed by a buzzard (legally-protected and increasing innumber due to improved environmental conditions), who'd be at fault? The buzzard, the world in general or the chicken-owner?