Decline of the Burbot

[Ken L]

I wonder whether they like crayfish?

 

I remember references to the AT "prize" being mentioned in the paper in the 70's whenever there was mention of someone catching a supposedly unidentified fish from a fenland river.

I also have a vague memory of a plan to re-introduce Burbot from Sweden being vetoed by the then equivalent of the EA.

[Steve Walker]

What temperature range will burbot thrive in?

[Chris Plumb]

What temperature range will burbot thrive in?

4-18ºC according to Fishbase - also says they eat crayfish - can we have some in the Kennet please!

 

C.

[chesters1]

A sack full for me as well please

[Latimeria]

I wonder whether they like crayfish?

 

I remember references to the AT "prize" being mentioned in the paper in the 70's whenever there was mention of someone catching a supposedly unidentified fish from a fenland river.

I also have a vague memory of a plan to re-introduce Burbot from Sweden being vetoed by the then equivalent of the EA.

More recently than that (within the last decade) a college in Melton Mowbray obtained some to study their needs, Ian Wellby (now IFM training chair) was involved in it, don't think anything came out of it.

[chesters1]

Pork n burbot pie could catch on with the right advertising

[Steve Walker]

4-18ºC according to Fishbase - also says they eat crayfish - can we have some in the Kennet please!

Just wondering how long Southern England will stay a potential habitat for them if we have increasing temperatures due to climate change.

[Latimeria]

I think it's likely that the only places now suitable for them in the UK are outside their former range, so that'd be a non-starter. Maybe some of the recovering rivers in the East Mids., but the species isn't globally threatened, it'd be expensive and of dubious value to reintroduce them in a financial resource-poor environment where the whole lot could be done in by a couple of pump failures at sewage farms or unwanted pesticides being dumped in a land drain by a 13-fingered farmer somewhere.

 

Just the kind of thing the top bods and marketing tools at the EA might go for as a distraction from what's taking place elsewhere, until it loses its PR value and then they'll just pull the funding.

[Steve Walker]

Reintroduction to Scottish rivers would probably spark furious correspondence in Trout & Salmon from assorted Maj (rtd) on the basis that anything which is not a salmon is going to ruin the salmon fishing!

[Latimeria]

I don't think there's any record of them having been in Scotland, so there'd be no justification in putting them there (apart from certain exceptional circumstances).

https://data.nbn.org.uk/Taxa/NHMSYS0000544703

 

Publications list here http://www.icer.soton.ac.uk/the-burbot-lota-lota/