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Seal having breakfast in Thames at Staines.

Graham Elliott

Graham Elliott

Senior Member & Supporter
We had a seal on the Wharfe in Yorkshire a while back that decimated a few areas taking a lot of fish, a friend of mine witnessed it eating barbel and informed the EA who told him, it will only eat 4 to 6 pounds of fish per day, and that would not affect fish stock! And because the river is tidal that they will be there and it’s nothing to do with them! And that he should contact natural England. 🙄
 
Jim Brook said:
We had a seal on the Wharfe in Yorkshire a while back that decimated a few areas taking a lot of fish, a friend of mine witnessed it eating barbel and informed the EA who told him, it will only eat 4 to 6 pounds of fish per day, and that would not affect fish stock! And because the river is tidal that they will be there and it’s nothing to do with them! And that he should contact natural England. 🙄
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And it's attitudes like this from the EA that really makes me despise them more than I do already!
Maybe it'll get hit by a pleasure cruiser or something....🙏
 
Yes it is upsetting to see a seal eating the fish in the Thames but what do you expect it to do, order a happy meal ? These seal incursions in to freshwater are not uncommon and to be honest there isn't a great deal we can do about it . A few years a go there was one resident at the weir at Topcliffe on the Swale in North Yorkshire , many miles from the sea .After much fuss, several botched attempts were made to catch it , as I recall it died probably of stress caused by the people trying to save it .A number of years a go there was one that took up residence in the Yorkshire Ouse at Linton on Ouse , it was there for many months and became something of a celebrity . Dubbed Sammy the Seal it hung about sunning itself on a sand bank , eating mainly Pike , plus the fish visitors brought along to feed it ! Eventually it' disappeared 'The thinking was that these seal incursions are due to them following Salmon runs as the fish migrate upstream .
 
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They definitely follow the salmon and sea trout up from the sea, but as for what can be done about them? The best thing would be to shoot them, it would be a lot less stressful than trying to net them etc, there not exactly rare there’s thousands of them along our coastline. Tin helmet 🪖 is on ready!
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
Yes it is upsetting to see a seal eating the fish in the Thames but what do you expect it to do, order a happy meal ? These seal incursions in to freshwater are not uncommon and to be honest there isn't a great deal we can do about it . A few years a go there was one resident at the weir at Topcliffe on the Swale in North Yorkshire , many miles from the sea .After much fuss, several botched attempts were made to catch it , as I recall it died probably of stress caused by the people trying to save it .A number of years a go there was one that took up residence in the Yorkshire Ouse at Linton on Ouse , it was there for many months and became something of a celebrity . Dubbed Sammy the Seal it hung about sunning itself on a sand bank , eating mainly Pike , plus the fish visitors brought along to feed it ! Eventually it' disappeared 'The thinking was that these seal incursions are due to them following Salmon runs as the fish migrate upstream .
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I wouldn't go anywhere near the seals, if they're nearby, they're lethal ... Heard team 6 took out Bin laden!
 

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Seal in the Thames, especially in London area is hardly a news I think. There are a few in the Richmond area few years ago, don’t know if they are still there or not.

And there are more people care/love them than fish…
 
Bump! (Instead of a new thread)

If there's a seal about (which there is) does this effect the fishing? Seems like a sligjtly stupid question to ask but I was gonna fish Bell Weir this week but now been told the Seal is back having a nice time swimming around. How does it affect their (barbel) behaviour. In other words should I go and do something else!
 
Steve Quinn said:
Bump! (Instead of a new thread)

If there's a seal about (which there is) does this effect the fishing? Seems like a sligjtly stupid question to ask but I was gonna fish Bell Weir this week but now been told the Seal is back having a nice time swimming around. How does it affect their (barbel) behaviour. In other words should I go and do something else!
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When we get seals on the Yorkshire rivers Ouse and Wharfe etc it kills the fishing as it’s often the barbel that are getting eaten so it’s bad news i fear for your trip mate
 
Jim Brook said:
When we get seals on the Yorkshire rivers Ouse and Wharfe etc it kills the fishing as it’s often the barbel that are getting eaten so it’s bad news i fear for your trip mate
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Kind of make sense to me. If something was roaming around with me on the menu I'd disappear asap. Might do a perch trip upstream towards Dorney.
 
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