Lawrence Breakspear
Senior Member
People blame all things for the demise of the barbel, be it loss of habitat, abstraction and pollution or predation, so without wishing to get into a heated debate, here is my basic opinion, based on scientific evidence, anecdotal evidence, and personal experience .
If the rivers were perfect, the habitat was sound, no pollution, no abstraction, we would still be in the same position or maybe worse, the problem is simple to me, we reached a point about 5 years ago on various rivers, where the killing of female barbel due to predation (otters) was not sustainable, I keep saying this, male barbel out number the females, by about 10 to 1, or as low as 7 to 1, so on a stretch of river that contains 200 barbel at best 28 will be female, and maybe 10 will be sexually mature, and maybe 5 or 6 in double figures, an otter in a matter of weeks/ months at best could clear out the sexually mature females, the bigger females are easier for the otter to catch, they may be singular or in tiny pods of 2 or 3 fish. Male barbel live for about 7 years maximum and get to about 7lb in weight, Females if unmolested can live for 20 plus years and reach weights way beyond a male, so thats why we are seeing barbel numbers in a state of collapse on a national scale.
The last survey on the Teme basically showed there was nothing really wrong with the river, accept that there were not enough barbel, fewer male and female barbel are coming up from the Severn to spawn as they used to and stay in the river, yes a number males are getting into the river because of their bigger numbers, they remain on the spawning areas waiting in vain for the females to arrive, but they never do, so there is little spawning going on, because the females have reduced so dramatically to the point of zero recovery, its too late now.
Even if we got rid of all the otters, I doubt if I would see change in my remaining life time of say 25 years.
Midland rivers that have got barbel populations, though in critical decline, are the Wye, the Severn, The Teme, Warks Avon, the Arrow, In fact I dont know of one river that has or had Indigenous or stocked (donated barbel) barbel populations that isnt in decline.
But we now see these same rivers bursting at the seams with mini chub, why?
Because the big barbel in numbers have been critically reduced, the otter are now is turning their attentions on other big singular species like the pike, the perch and the chub, anything above 2lb is fair game, hence the boom in chub below 2lbs, the otter has not only taken the big barbel, it is now changing the demographics of most rivers by targeting other species, what we see with the Teme, is a blueprint for most other shallow small rivers, most lower severn barbel above Tewkesbury spawned at Diglis/river Teme and Teme mouth, the very hunting ground that otters focus on for 4 months of the year.
I know I will be pilloried for these comments, its happened long before this post, but myself and a few others did predict this scenario, the scene is set and there is nothing we can do, as I said it's too late.
Over the last 5 years we have seen a huge increase in large chub on the river Severn where 5lb chub barely raise an eyebrow these days, but this won't last, we are starting to see many large chub with otter wounds....as I said all this is only my opinion.
If the rivers were perfect, the habitat was sound, no pollution, no abstraction, we would still be in the same position or maybe worse, the problem is simple to me, we reached a point about 5 years ago on various rivers, where the killing of female barbel due to predation (otters) was not sustainable, I keep saying this, male barbel out number the females, by about 10 to 1, or as low as 7 to 1, so on a stretch of river that contains 200 barbel at best 28 will be female, and maybe 10 will be sexually mature, and maybe 5 or 6 in double figures, an otter in a matter of weeks/ months at best could clear out the sexually mature females, the bigger females are easier for the otter to catch, they may be singular or in tiny pods of 2 or 3 fish. Male barbel live for about 7 years maximum and get to about 7lb in weight, Females if unmolested can live for 20 plus years and reach weights way beyond a male, so thats why we are seeing barbel numbers in a state of collapse on a national scale.
The last survey on the Teme basically showed there was nothing really wrong with the river, accept that there were not enough barbel, fewer male and female barbel are coming up from the Severn to spawn as they used to and stay in the river, yes a number males are getting into the river because of their bigger numbers, they remain on the spawning areas waiting in vain for the females to arrive, but they never do, so there is little spawning going on, because the females have reduced so dramatically to the point of zero recovery, its too late now.
Even if we got rid of all the otters, I doubt if I would see change in my remaining life time of say 25 years.
Midland rivers that have got barbel populations, though in critical decline, are the Wye, the Severn, The Teme, Warks Avon, the Arrow, In fact I dont know of one river that has or had Indigenous or stocked (donated barbel) barbel populations that isnt in decline.
But we now see these same rivers bursting at the seams with mini chub, why?
Because the big barbel in numbers have been critically reduced, the otter are now is turning their attentions on other big singular species like the pike, the perch and the chub, anything above 2lb is fair game, hence the boom in chub below 2lbs, the otter has not only taken the big barbel, it is now changing the demographics of most rivers by targeting other species, what we see with the Teme, is a blueprint for most other shallow small rivers, most lower severn barbel above Tewkesbury spawned at Diglis/river Teme and Teme mouth, the very hunting ground that otters focus on for 4 months of the year.
I know I will be pilloried for these comments, its happened long before this post, but myself and a few others did predict this scenario, the scene is set and there is nothing we can do, as I said it's too late.
Over the last 5 years we have seen a huge increase in large chub on the river Severn where 5lb chub barely raise an eyebrow these days, but this won't last, we are starting to see many large chub with otter wounds....as I said all this is only my opinion.
