Lee Fletcher
Senior Member
Dear All,
Given the news about the fantastic barbel recently caught somewhere in barbel land, this might be relevant to specimen anglers here.
This is an extract from a larger article taken from my forthcoming website and highlights the serious plight facing UK Specimen Anglers today.
End of an Era?
When the otter started to decline in the 1950’s, it also heralded the beginning of a new angling culture in the UK as anglers started to target the bigger fish within certain species categories. This was to become known as “specimen angling†which later on would grow beyond every ones expectations. At the same time another industry within the existing UK tackle trade sprang up on the back of this new angling culture which is worth millions of pounds today. So seeing as the major emphasis of specimen angling is seeking to catch the larger fish of any given species, the otter was always going to come into conflict with specimen anglers once it began to return to our river systems. Specialist anglers never had otters in the big fish equation when specimen angling first began so by and large big fish had very few predators.
Alarm bells began to be rung in the specimen angling world in the early 1990’s when it became apparent that otters were decimating carp stocks at certain still water venues. In some cases whole stocks of huge and very valuable carp were wiped out. Otters are more than capable of killing huge carp and can eliminate quite a large number of fish very quickly because otters only eat from a fresh kill. Once they have eaten they will leave the carcass for other predators whilst they seek out another fresh kill for their next meal. Consequently it doesn’t take long before large stocks of big carp are wiped out in lakes and ponds once otters begin to target them. The only way that a still water fishery can protect their fish stocks against otter predation is to erect otter fencing but this is expensive and on large lakes and gravel pits not viable due to the tremendous costs involved.
Fish stocks in rivers and streams can be afforded no protection what so ever so highly prized and sought after fish that specimen anglers seek to catch also fall prey to the otter. UK anglers have already seen this happen along many rivers that contain big fish whilst a worst case scenario became a reality when record sized fish were killed by otters at a couple of venues.
There is no easy answer to the problem of otters predating on large fish whether they come from a still water environment or a river based one. Only a tiny minority of still water fisheries can afford to put up otter fencing and there remains no protection available for rivers. Re stocking might be one answer but there are problems here as well. The UK Environment Agency are reluctant to re stock certain species in certain areas due to a “historical indigenous†argument which could mean that some species could become extinct in certain rivers where re-stocking is not permitted in the after math of otter predation. This will result in a species collapse along some rivers which alone is bad enough. A knock on effect is that the demise of big fish will undoubtedly affect production and sales within the UK tackle trade which of course will affect jobs in the long term. Added to which, it is not possible to re-stock specimen sized fish anyway. They have to grow on to become specimen sized fish after going into the natural environment they are stocked into as juveniles. Here again there are risks involved because juveniles stocked face another set of problems arising from floods, water abstraction, predation from a range of other predators and pollution. Plus many species in rivers are facing serious recruitment problems due to their habitats and spawning grounds being eroded due to bad land management in adjacent areas that effect nearby rivers directly.
UK Specialist Angling is about to face its biggest challenge even though it is perhaps at its zenith in popularity. Otters will undoubtedly continue to spread throughout our counties river systems whilst continuing to prey on specimen size fish stocks. This will ultimately result in the collapse of specimen sized fish along many rivers and still waters within river systems. Otters will continue to thrive because they will simply predate on other sizes of fish once the larger fish have all gone. In a way this will be preferable because the otter will at least eat the whole fish instead of leaving most of a larger carcass to rot after eating only a part of it. The long term affect is otters will still thrive but specialist angling as we know it today will fall into decline because you can’t angle for fish that simply aren’t there any longer.
In specialist angling terms this is bad enough, but there is a knock on effect to the demise of our larger sized fish stocks that the rest of angling will have to face. Once the larger fish have gone otters will begin to prey on the smaller sizes but here the otter has competition from a range of other predators like mink and many types of piscivorous birds. It is a mistake to simply brush predation off by stating that predators will “find their own levels naturally†because in most cases whilst some might eventually, the species that they all prey upon goes into rapid decline first way before the predators find a “balanceâ€. This will ultimately mean that other branches of angling will see their fish stocks decline as well. Match anglers and pleasure anglers on still waters and rivers will see a marked decline in smaller sizes of certain species. Game anglers on many rivers and still waters will also see trout and salmon stocks decline with a subsequent decline in the year classes of these fish. Great lengths and vast amounts of money have been spent on Atlantic salmon restoration programmes, so just when we are starting to see positive results from all that hard work, a fully protected apex predator now poses a serious threat to the Atlantic salmons revival in the UK. Then there is the serious question about spawning sites for all species of freshwater fish. There is no doubt that otters will begin to target spawning sites once fish begin their yearly congregations. How will this affect fish recruitment in the long term if we have no method of control?
Historically man has always been our planets greatest predator with a long and infamous history for plunder and mismanagement of our world’s resources. But within a few decades man has gone from sometimes being over reactive when dealing with predation to being totally none reactive in certain cases. In effect we have pulled our own teeth over the question of dealing with predation forcing ourselves to be mere spectators whilst things go wrong. But will things go wrong?
There is no doubt that UK rivers have become cleaner and definitely cleaner than they were years ago when UK industry used our river systems as drains for their effluent and waste products. Indeed it is healthier rivers which have aided the otter revival. Fish recruitment on many rivers is high but on others it is extremely low for a variety of manmade reasons. We now have a serious problem with cormorant predation and the Britton Report in the 1990’s proved that conclusively. Signal crayfish now pose a very serious threat to our native white clawed crayfish as well as a serious threat to the aquatic environment and fish recruitment in and around spawning sites.
It remains to be seen what impact mink will have long term on our fish stocks but I suspect that will be nothing like the impact otters make. Indeed, otters have already created a massive impact on mature fish stocks at certain still waters and river venues.
The way I see it is this. Historically man has walked in wild places and left far more than his footprints behind. By and large he has made a pretty bad job of looking after our planet in the past with more natural misdemeanours to his name than any other species on Earth. Then around 30 years ago a new type of politically correct Homo sapiens stood up and rose above the chaos. It was man’s time to become green so he started to seriously consider our green and pleasant lands and the creatures that live in it. The trouble is, man is not yet able to shake off his natural ability for getting things woefully wrong even in the face of trying to put things right. In our quest for the protection of a minority of species, we have completely forgotten to protect the majority of species that their protection will affect. That is not good conservation, it’s just bad management and lets face facts here, man has the sole responsibility for the stewardship of planet Earth and that responsibility should involve the protection and preservation of all species not just a few.
Or March Towards Unity?
With UK recreational angling reputed to be worth 3.5 billion pounds to local and national economies we anglers hold a right to have a fee paying voice at least. Where that voice will emanate from is yet to be determined but I quite like what the Predation Action Group has said in the past and the patrons and members of the PAG are at least specialist anglers so are qualified to speak for big fish anglers. Make no mistake, as specialist anglers we are facing our biggest challenge to date. Our sport is totally reliant on there being big fish of any given species being available to fish for. Without big fish, there is no specimen angling and it really is about it all coming down to that.
There is no doubt that barbel fishing is entering a new age as many rivers begin to throw up fish we could only ever dream about before just a relatively short time ago. However, we have already seen record sized barbel and potentially record sized fish get killed by otters. We now see huge fish being caught from a variety of rivers but how long will it be before these very same fish end up on the bank half eaten? We simply can't fish for fish that aren't there.
I have always maintained that UK anglers would unite once their hearts and minds were reached or our way of life and sport become seriously threatened.
We can continue to sit back and do nothing. Talk is cheap. But I have spent my entire life amongst watery places with most of that time spent in the pursuit of big fish like most of us I would imagine. It will be a sad day indeed if specimen angling declined through predation of big fish until it wasn't worth doing any longer.
Regards,
Lee Fletcher.
Given the news about the fantastic barbel recently caught somewhere in barbel land, this might be relevant to specimen anglers here.
This is an extract from a larger article taken from my forthcoming website and highlights the serious plight facing UK Specimen Anglers today.
End of an Era?
When the otter started to decline in the 1950’s, it also heralded the beginning of a new angling culture in the UK as anglers started to target the bigger fish within certain species categories. This was to become known as “specimen angling†which later on would grow beyond every ones expectations. At the same time another industry within the existing UK tackle trade sprang up on the back of this new angling culture which is worth millions of pounds today. So seeing as the major emphasis of specimen angling is seeking to catch the larger fish of any given species, the otter was always going to come into conflict with specimen anglers once it began to return to our river systems. Specialist anglers never had otters in the big fish equation when specimen angling first began so by and large big fish had very few predators.
Alarm bells began to be rung in the specimen angling world in the early 1990’s when it became apparent that otters were decimating carp stocks at certain still water venues. In some cases whole stocks of huge and very valuable carp were wiped out. Otters are more than capable of killing huge carp and can eliminate quite a large number of fish very quickly because otters only eat from a fresh kill. Once they have eaten they will leave the carcass for other predators whilst they seek out another fresh kill for their next meal. Consequently it doesn’t take long before large stocks of big carp are wiped out in lakes and ponds once otters begin to target them. The only way that a still water fishery can protect their fish stocks against otter predation is to erect otter fencing but this is expensive and on large lakes and gravel pits not viable due to the tremendous costs involved.
Fish stocks in rivers and streams can be afforded no protection what so ever so highly prized and sought after fish that specimen anglers seek to catch also fall prey to the otter. UK anglers have already seen this happen along many rivers that contain big fish whilst a worst case scenario became a reality when record sized fish were killed by otters at a couple of venues.
There is no easy answer to the problem of otters predating on large fish whether they come from a still water environment or a river based one. Only a tiny minority of still water fisheries can afford to put up otter fencing and there remains no protection available for rivers. Re stocking might be one answer but there are problems here as well. The UK Environment Agency are reluctant to re stock certain species in certain areas due to a “historical indigenous†argument which could mean that some species could become extinct in certain rivers where re-stocking is not permitted in the after math of otter predation. This will result in a species collapse along some rivers which alone is bad enough. A knock on effect is that the demise of big fish will undoubtedly affect production and sales within the UK tackle trade which of course will affect jobs in the long term. Added to which, it is not possible to re-stock specimen sized fish anyway. They have to grow on to become specimen sized fish after going into the natural environment they are stocked into as juveniles. Here again there are risks involved because juveniles stocked face another set of problems arising from floods, water abstraction, predation from a range of other predators and pollution. Plus many species in rivers are facing serious recruitment problems due to their habitats and spawning grounds being eroded due to bad land management in adjacent areas that effect nearby rivers directly.
UK Specialist Angling is about to face its biggest challenge even though it is perhaps at its zenith in popularity. Otters will undoubtedly continue to spread throughout our counties river systems whilst continuing to prey on specimen size fish stocks. This will ultimately result in the collapse of specimen sized fish along many rivers and still waters within river systems. Otters will continue to thrive because they will simply predate on other sizes of fish once the larger fish have all gone. In a way this will be preferable because the otter will at least eat the whole fish instead of leaving most of a larger carcass to rot after eating only a part of it. The long term affect is otters will still thrive but specialist angling as we know it today will fall into decline because you can’t angle for fish that simply aren’t there any longer.
In specialist angling terms this is bad enough, but there is a knock on effect to the demise of our larger sized fish stocks that the rest of angling will have to face. Once the larger fish have gone otters will begin to prey on the smaller sizes but here the otter has competition from a range of other predators like mink and many types of piscivorous birds. It is a mistake to simply brush predation off by stating that predators will “find their own levels naturally†because in most cases whilst some might eventually, the species that they all prey upon goes into rapid decline first way before the predators find a “balanceâ€. This will ultimately mean that other branches of angling will see their fish stocks decline as well. Match anglers and pleasure anglers on still waters and rivers will see a marked decline in smaller sizes of certain species. Game anglers on many rivers and still waters will also see trout and salmon stocks decline with a subsequent decline in the year classes of these fish. Great lengths and vast amounts of money have been spent on Atlantic salmon restoration programmes, so just when we are starting to see positive results from all that hard work, a fully protected apex predator now poses a serious threat to the Atlantic salmons revival in the UK. Then there is the serious question about spawning sites for all species of freshwater fish. There is no doubt that otters will begin to target spawning sites once fish begin their yearly congregations. How will this affect fish recruitment in the long term if we have no method of control?
Historically man has always been our planets greatest predator with a long and infamous history for plunder and mismanagement of our world’s resources. But within a few decades man has gone from sometimes being over reactive when dealing with predation to being totally none reactive in certain cases. In effect we have pulled our own teeth over the question of dealing with predation forcing ourselves to be mere spectators whilst things go wrong. But will things go wrong?
There is no doubt that UK rivers have become cleaner and definitely cleaner than they were years ago when UK industry used our river systems as drains for their effluent and waste products. Indeed it is healthier rivers which have aided the otter revival. Fish recruitment on many rivers is high but on others it is extremely low for a variety of manmade reasons. We now have a serious problem with cormorant predation and the Britton Report in the 1990’s proved that conclusively. Signal crayfish now pose a very serious threat to our native white clawed crayfish as well as a serious threat to the aquatic environment and fish recruitment in and around spawning sites.
It remains to be seen what impact mink will have long term on our fish stocks but I suspect that will be nothing like the impact otters make. Indeed, otters have already created a massive impact on mature fish stocks at certain still waters and river venues.
The way I see it is this. Historically man has walked in wild places and left far more than his footprints behind. By and large he has made a pretty bad job of looking after our planet in the past with more natural misdemeanours to his name than any other species on Earth. Then around 30 years ago a new type of politically correct Homo sapiens stood up and rose above the chaos. It was man’s time to become green so he started to seriously consider our green and pleasant lands and the creatures that live in it. The trouble is, man is not yet able to shake off his natural ability for getting things woefully wrong even in the face of trying to put things right. In our quest for the protection of a minority of species, we have completely forgotten to protect the majority of species that their protection will affect. That is not good conservation, it’s just bad management and lets face facts here, man has the sole responsibility for the stewardship of planet Earth and that responsibility should involve the protection and preservation of all species not just a few.
Or March Towards Unity?
With UK recreational angling reputed to be worth 3.5 billion pounds to local and national economies we anglers hold a right to have a fee paying voice at least. Where that voice will emanate from is yet to be determined but I quite like what the Predation Action Group has said in the past and the patrons and members of the PAG are at least specialist anglers so are qualified to speak for big fish anglers. Make no mistake, as specialist anglers we are facing our biggest challenge to date. Our sport is totally reliant on there being big fish of any given species being available to fish for. Without big fish, there is no specimen angling and it really is about it all coming down to that.
There is no doubt that barbel fishing is entering a new age as many rivers begin to throw up fish we could only ever dream about before just a relatively short time ago. However, we have already seen record sized barbel and potentially record sized fish get killed by otters. We now see huge fish being caught from a variety of rivers but how long will it be before these very same fish end up on the bank half eaten? We simply can't fish for fish that aren't there.
I have always maintained that UK anglers would unite once their hearts and minds were reached or our way of life and sport become seriously threatened.
We can continue to sit back and do nothing. Talk is cheap. But I have spent my entire life amongst watery places with most of that time spent in the pursuit of big fish like most of us I would imagine. It will be a sad day indeed if specimen angling declined through predation of big fish until it wasn't worth doing any longer.
Regards,
Lee Fletcher.
