Does The Otter Deserve Such Bad Press?

[RelaxGod]

RelaxGod, (boy that feels strange, i have spoken to 'God' for half a century)

 

So you don't think that otters should be in our waters? Why? If you look through the past otter threads, you will see that a 'balanced' fishery can cope with otters, they did for thousands of years before we started messing things up.

I wonder if you feel the same way about the mass introduction of 'non native' fish into our waters? Mainly the varieties of carp, that spread like a plague into other waters whenever we have floods? Or even the efffects on the otter population that an over stocked lake/pond can have? If you want to attract birds into your garden, put plenty of food in easy reach, if you want otters to over breed successfully, then provide them with easily caught prey, in large numbers.

 

I'll wait for 'Worms' to find this thread, he can explain it much better than I.

 

John.

 

Hi, yes relaxgod , a friend had that on his email, so i commandeered it for a poker site using it as a screen name on the basis i'm more laid back than he ever is

 

'a 'balanced' fishery can cope with otters, they did for thousands of years before we started messing things up'

I believe things are still pretty messed up to be honest, i don't believe the environment agency propaganda for a start. The eel populations down 95% in the past 25 years for instance. I also believe otters have there place in natural rivers, which are few and far between. The UK was under ice once so on that basis everything here is an invader.

Can anyone actually say for certain where were going to be in years to come? I don't like change and i like things as they are.

[Steve Walker]

I want things how they used to be - with otters.

[Worms]

RelaxGod, (boy that feels strange, i have spoken to 'God' for half a century)

 

So you don't think that otters should be in our waters? Why? If you look through the past otter threads, you will see that a 'balanced' fishery can cope with otters, they did for thousands of years before we started messing things up.

I wonder if you feel the same way about the mass introduction of 'non native' fish into our waters? Mainly the varieties of carp, that spread like a plague into other waters whenever we have floods? Or even the efffects on the otter population that an over stocked lake/pond can have? If you want to attract birds into your garden, put plenty of food in easy reach, if you want otters to over breed successfully, then provide them with easily caught prey, in large numbers.

 

I'll wait for 'Worms' to find this thread, he can explain it much better than I.

 

John.

 

No problem with your explanation John, just common-sense

 

 

Hi, yes relaxgod , a friend had that on his email, so i commandeered it for a poker site using it as a screen name on the basis i'm more laid back than he ever is

 

'a 'balanced' fishery can cope with otters, they did for thousands of years before we started messing things up'

I believe things are still pretty messed up to be honest, i don't believe the environment agency propaganda for a start. The eel populations down 95% in the past 25 years for instance. I also believe otters have there place in natural rivers, which are few and far between. The UK was under ice once so on that basis everything here is an invader.

Can anyone actually say for certain where were going to be in years to come? I don't like change and i like things as they are.

 

The UK was under ice, that in itself has provided the categorisation of "native"...if it got here naturally since or, was here during the ice-age then it is native. If it was aided and abetted by Man in any way shape or form then it is non-native.

 

Information put out by the EA or other bodies may be flawed, often, evidence of particular species is provided by catch results, commercial and recreational. It would appear that overall, the European eel is in a severe decline.

 

Otters have their place in natural rivers yes, otters also have their place in waters where otter prey is found. Otters, like the majority of animals (including Humans), are opportunist feeders, they go to where the food is most abundant, easiest to catch, likely to return a good investment for effort spent in catching it and reasonably close to an ideal area for continuing the rest of their life.

 

Like you, I can be very resistant to change. I didn't like it when otters declined due to Man's greed. I didn't like it when commercial pools started springing up everywhere, due to Man's greed. Fortunately, it is now illegal to use many toxic chemical compounds that can get flushed into our natural waterways. It is also illegal to dig a hole on a floodplain and fill it full of non-native species, it is also now illegal to kill otters. So, we have achieved something. We have gone a significant way in rectifying the huge damaging changes (that we both hate so much) and now, the countryside is, in part, being restored to the halcyon days of my youth. Result!

[gozzer]

Do you mind if I just call you Relax, the God bit doesn't sit well with an atheist.

 

Ther were plenty of creatures here before the ice came, they just retreated across the land bridge to what's now main land Europe. Some came back after the ice went.

 

You didn't answer my question regarding carp etc,

If you like things as they are now, then we disagree entirely. I don't care much for change, and the changes in regard to fish and fisheries over the last 20 to 30yrs have been IMO, for the worse.

I'm like Steve, I'd like things to be how they were, and that includes otters, the full package, not run just for the benefit of anglers, as some seem to want now.

 

John.

[garylee]

Without getting to involved with the otter debate. I find myself fishing less and less these days in fact

After fishing for forty years plus I'm thinking of giving it up.

I find it hard to talk about it become I become quite sad. The local rivers and pits are a shadows of their former selves.

It is not all otter preditation but a combination of this and less management of rivers and water abstraction.

But otter preditation in the last ten years has decimated the bream, tench and large roach in the two local rivers I fish.

I've continued to fish farm reservoirs and commercials but the enjoyment for me is not there.

Several still waters have also lost most of their bream and tench.

I know some will say this is just a re balance and a predator will eat if it finds an easy food supply but the result will be less anglers.

Less anglers will mean clubs not being viable and loss of fishing rites.

[Worms]

Do you know that it was otters that have had this effect on your rivers or is it just common 'knowledge'?

[RelaxGod]

RelaxGod, (boy that feels strange, i have spoken to 'God' for half a century)

 

So you don't think that otters should be in our waters? Why? If you look through the past otter threads, you will see that a 'balanced' fishery can cope with otters, they did for thousands of years before we started messing things up.

I wonder if you feel the same way about the mass introduction of 'non native' fish into our waters? Mainly the varieties of carp, that spread like a plague into other waters whenever we have floods? Or even the efffects on the otter population that an over stocked lake/pond can have? If you want to attract birds into your garden, put plenty of food in easy reach, if you want otters to over breed successfully, then provide them with easily caught prey, in large numbers.

 

I'll wait for 'Worms' to find this thread, he can explain it much better than I.

 

John.

 

John

 

Sorry in a rush, i think i already answered the first question. Tell me where there are a plauge of carp in the river and i can answer your second one, I river fish for carp and can say i probably average one every 1-1.5 days. There not plague proportions like Australia and the USA because the water temperature is lower.

[garylee]

What do you think it is worms ? The beastie I've seen on a couple of occasion is long brown and when it ran between one of my friends legs didn't stop to identify itself.

 

Edited February 19, 2013 by garylee

[Worms]

What do you think it is worms ? The beastie I've seen on a couple of occasion is long brown and when it ran between one of my friends legs didn't stop to identify itself.

That just means that you may have seen an otter. Is there evidence that fish decline in the two rivers that you fish is down to predation by otters?

[Old geezer]

What do you think it is worms ? The beastie I've seen on a couple of occasion is long brown and when it ran between one of my friends legs didn't stop to identify itself.

 

Sounds more like a mink to me....