David Gauntlett
Senior Member
It is a fact that otters never did disappear completely....in rivers without too much agricultural run off, they were hardly affected at all. It is also true that once the agricultural chemical that brought about their problems was banned, they recovered dramatically and would have naturally recolonised all areas without mans intervention....but for mans insatiable hunger for interfering.
Where the picture is a little more blurred is how many farm reared otters were released, when the last ones were released, and where these stocking took place. Even less clear is what affect, if any, this unnatural rearing had on otter behaviour. When you consider that these artificially reared animals must form the entire population in those areas where there were no natural otter populations, then the picture could be quite worrying if all the rumours are true. It's not hard to imagine that if the stories of bizarre, un-otter like behaviour are true, then those areas will have far denser otter populations than elsewhere. You can get answers from otter supporters to those questions if you care to ask, although such people are much like politicians...but go ahead and believe them if it makes you any happier
However, the most devastating factor in all of this is the TOTAL protection that otters, and anything to do with otters, now enjoys. They were NEVER hunted to extinction, that is total poppycock. Like all wild animals in the centuries gone by, their population was maintained at a level whereby their appetites could be supported by the prey population at that time. Once man (for his own safety) had got rid of all the natural otter predators that kept their numbers in tune with natures balance, we had to take over. That sensible countryman's way of natural management has now been done away with....and the results are becoming clear for all to see. If a predator has nothing naturally keeping it numbers down, and we are not allowed to...then it obviously WILL become out of sync with it's prey. Because otters will take anything the swims, walks or crawls, then it will take a very long time before they eat themselves out of prey, allowing nature itself to restore a natural balance. Bu that time, we may all be playing golf, and a lot of smaller, endangered species may exist only in museums....or zoos if they are lucky. Most of these critters were endangered by loss of habitat and pollution, and were barely hanging in there. Dear, cuddly, cute Tarka will put an end to that situation!
As for the question 'When Otters were virtually extinct in the 1970's were fish then thriving as a result of there being so few Otters about?' I think that has already been answered. They only became close to extinction in certain areas....large areas it's true, but they never were 'virtualy extinct'. Possibly the youngest (in larger river terms) barbel populations are those of the Wye (early 60's?)and Severn (mid to late 50's?) but even those splendid river seem to be settling down, with less but bigger fish being caught. Those rivers (the Wye in particular) always had otters, but because the barbel population grew rapidly in such a healthy systems, they were always in balance. The same absolutely cannot be said about many other rivers, where the otters are but the final straw, the very visible killers that are mopping up the last few surviving stragglers of population that have been beset for many years by a variety of ills.
I am 70 now, and have issues that have reduced my angling outings to a fraction of what they once were, so should probably stop moaning about these sad happenings. My great grandchildren and certainly my great great grandchildren will probably get on fine catching carp or more exotic species in covered, floodlit and heated ponds, because they will not have known anything different. Be that as it may, I am still old and sad enough to mourn the passing of decent rock music, so I am well up for a few tears over the passing of 'real' fishing....can't help myself
What are we like
Cheers, Dave.
Where the picture is a little more blurred is how many farm reared otters were released, when the last ones were released, and where these stocking took place. Even less clear is what affect, if any, this unnatural rearing had on otter behaviour. When you consider that these artificially reared animals must form the entire population in those areas where there were no natural otter populations, then the picture could be quite worrying if all the rumours are true. It's not hard to imagine that if the stories of bizarre, un-otter like behaviour are true, then those areas will have far denser otter populations than elsewhere. You can get answers from otter supporters to those questions if you care to ask, although such people are much like politicians...but go ahead and believe them if it makes you any happier
However, the most devastating factor in all of this is the TOTAL protection that otters, and anything to do with otters, now enjoys. They were NEVER hunted to extinction, that is total poppycock. Like all wild animals in the centuries gone by, their population was maintained at a level whereby their appetites could be supported by the prey population at that time. Once man (for his own safety) had got rid of all the natural otter predators that kept their numbers in tune with natures balance, we had to take over. That sensible countryman's way of natural management has now been done away with....and the results are becoming clear for all to see. If a predator has nothing naturally keeping it numbers down, and we are not allowed to...then it obviously WILL become out of sync with it's prey. Because otters will take anything the swims, walks or crawls, then it will take a very long time before they eat themselves out of prey, allowing nature itself to restore a natural balance. Bu that time, we may all be playing golf, and a lot of smaller, endangered species may exist only in museums....or zoos if they are lucky. Most of these critters were endangered by loss of habitat and pollution, and were barely hanging in there. Dear, cuddly, cute Tarka will put an end to that situation!
As for the question 'When Otters were virtually extinct in the 1970's were fish then thriving as a result of there being so few Otters about?' I think that has already been answered. They only became close to extinction in certain areas....large areas it's true, but they never were 'virtualy extinct'. Possibly the youngest (in larger river terms) barbel populations are those of the Wye (early 60's?)and Severn (mid to late 50's?) but even those splendid river seem to be settling down, with less but bigger fish being caught. Those rivers (the Wye in particular) always had otters, but because the barbel population grew rapidly in such a healthy systems, they were always in balance. The same absolutely cannot be said about many other rivers, where the otters are but the final straw, the very visible killers that are mopping up the last few surviving stragglers of population that have been beset for many years by a variety of ills.
I am 70 now, and have issues that have reduced my angling outings to a fraction of what they once were, so should probably stop moaning about these sad happenings. My great grandchildren and certainly my great great grandchildren will probably get on fine catching carp or more exotic species in covered, floodlit and heated ponds, because they will not have known anything different. Be that as it may, I am still old and sad enough to mourn the passing of decent rock music, so I am well up for a few tears over the passing of 'real' fishing....can't help myself
What are we like
Cheers, Dave.
