Otter friend or foe

[Worms]

We'll have to badger Worms for more information. I'm fed up ferreting around in Google

Tee hee, funnily enough, badger poo is quite obvious, weasel poo is weasily recognised and stoats?....well, stoatally different of course

[cannibalspinners]

Tee hee, funnily enough, badger poo is quite obvious, weasel poo is weasily recognised and stoats?....well, stoatally different of course

Re otters , As i have said before i admire them , But i think many on here dont

Personally i dont think they have much impact on fish numbers

They seem to be rather shy creatures that would rather stay out of our way

& as someone in an earlier post said fish lay so many eggs that the otter can live of the young fish & still maintian a healthy balance of wild stocks

Enough food for the otter without making a dent in fish numbers i think

Am i Wrong !!!!!

[chesters1]

Re otters , As i have said before i admire them , But i think many on here dont

Personally i dont think they have much impact on fish numbers

They seem to be rather shy creatures that would rather stay out of our way

& as someone in an earlier post said fish lay so many eggs that the otter can live of the young fish & still maintian a healthy balance of wild stocks

Enough food for the otter without making a dent in fish numbers i think

Am i Wrong !!!!!

 

i'm not sure where this "many" comes from ,perhaps its "many" posts saying the same thing by the same poster

[Chris Goddard]

Are otters naturalised,

 

Yes then I'm OK with them.

 

Are Cormorants naturalised? (on the rivers ,lakes INLAND WATERS??)

 

I rest the case!!

[Worms]

Are Cormorants naturalised? (on the rivers ,lakes INLAND WATERS??)

 

I rest the case!!

Yes, native fish eating predators of inland waters (sinensis sub-sp.), not introduced or coming inland because the seafish have all gone!

[Anderoo]

I'm certain that otters will and do take barbel. They - apparently - are easy to catch, much easier than chub or trout. Believe it or not, I do largely accept that otters have eaten their way through quite a large proportion of the upper Thames tributaries' barbel. What I don't accept is that this is because the otters were all of a sudden 'restocked' in large numbers; I am sure in my own mind that the otters were always there, and other man-made factors meant that the barbel were suddenly easy prey.

 

Take the Windrush. There used to be lots of barbel in the river. Witney then quadrupled in size fairly quickly and abstracted most of its water from this tiny river, reducing it to a trickle. The fish then had nowhere to hide, and predation increased massively. Witney now gets its water from Farmoor reservoir and the river has a bit more water in - although endless dry years have now taken the place of abstraction, so a similar issue remains.

 

I'm not one of the otter deniers, but it's pretty clear to me that if and when certain waters have a 'problem' with otters, the otters are not actually the problem - they are the proof that a problem exists. Trying to eradicate a native predator that is perfectly designed for its environment is futile and self-defeating; the real problems are elsewhere, and if fixed the otter 'problem' naturally fixes itself.

 

30 million years later, and there are still fish.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Anderoo

[Vagabond]

the Otter has a reputation for eating eels first and foremost, this is of course unlikely ......

what was that you said about being in denial ?

 

....what I understand as a non expert that what would dictate the prey choice would be availability,

 

Well, you're getting there, but availability does not just mean abundance, it means also how easy something is to catch.

 

In summer (warmish water) cyprinids swim faster than eels, so otters find eels easier to catch.

 

In winter, eels retire to the deeps, cyprinids swim more sluggishly, and would thus become the most "available" prey.

 

Nobody, but nobody, is saying otters do not eat fish. What is being looked for is hard evidence (as opposed to hearsay) that they "regularly" eat fish of double figures.

 

Have a look at the paper on Slapton Ley that Worms put a link to. It won't make you an "expert", but it might, it just might, make you a bit better informed. BTW Slapton Ley, when I fished it many years ago, had plenty of otters, plenty of huge pike, plenty of eels and thousands of rudd, several of which ran to over three pounds.

 

......and have a look at those nice pictures of otters eating eels that I gave links for - good photography, or do you think they were all faked ?

Edited November 16, 2011 by Vagabond

[Phone]

teme man,

 

I'm glad you acknowledge that.

(don't forget)

 

Phone

[Thecarpdude]

Although they kill some fish, There just trying to live there life like we do. And must be respected.

[chesters1]

its not the otter is "cuddly" fish are seen as "scaly" thus serve no purpose in the scheme of things.

as for culls they were culled for centuries but now we have "media" to enlighten the masses

 

i'm not sure what we have t learn about the otter it eats fish to survive ,it breeds and it dies and thats basically the same as anything else only the food maybe different ,if "we" cosset the food then its a foe

wolves are fine out in the woods but if they eat "our" things it becomes an enemy ,elephants , mice, squirrels, you name it if its "out there" not effecting anyone its not seen

 

we dont see "cull the bear" here because we dont have bears or if we did if they didn't impinge on something we believe is "ours" then you still wouldnt

 

i,v often wondered where badgers get TB from? cows?

or is it that badgers are great to blame ,surprisingly the price in the market for healthy cattle is here

 

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Prices/Prices.aspx?sPage=dailygbavg

anyone explain the p/kg part (pence per kilo?)

but if you cow has TB its this

 

http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farma...e-comp-1111.pdf

 

Now IMHO badgers need culling and not because of cows theres a huge rise in the numbers ,the difference is though thanks to telly most people know what a badger is and they are "cuddly" and compared to what these buggers get up to (an armoured fox without so much fear) a cull would be hot in the press

 

A cuddly otter just eats scaly fish so its only anglers that are bothered to 90% of the population who never see otters and dont give a fig about fish ,so it would be seen by the majority as anglers picking on cuddly otters and in reality its just what it is

Edited November 16, 2011 by chesters1