Official beaver wild release announced. Thoughts

[Joe Winstanley]

Well, I suppose you're never going to please everyone.
I fish the River Otter in Devon where they've been around in numbers for some time and so far the negative impacts have been very limited, and not hard to mitigate for. The overwhelming evidence so far, not just from Scientists, but also Anglers and Wildlife groups, is that they've only been beneficial.

And in general they seem to have well received by farmers, although obviously not all!

 

[Phil Nixon]

Beaver dams can legally be removed if they are less than 2 weeks old, another daft rule from the EA, just make sure you check your fisheries regularly:
"
One such non-licensable action is the removal of dams less than 2 weeks old. Beavers build dams to retain water and create an aquatic refuge, including raising water levels to submerge burrow and lodge entrances providing them with a secure place to rest and breed. Newly built dams are not treated as protected under the legislation as their removal is unlikely to impact on beaver burrows or lodges."

 

[Tim Marks]

Well, I suppose you're never going to please everyone.
I fish the River Otter in Devon where they've been around in numbers for some time and so far the negative impacts have been very limited, and not hard to mitigate for. The overwhelming evidence so far, not just from Scientists, but also Anglers and Wildlife groups, is that they've only been beneficial.

I was idly reading the last issue of ‘Fly fishing and fly tying’ magazine this week and there is a great article in there about big trout in Spain.

Halfway through, the author (a well travelled fly angler) suddenly says that his local river Otter has been ruined by beaver introductions - it is now ‘littered’ with horizontal trees and basically almost unfishable…

 

[Ben Marr]

I was idly reading the last issue of ‘Fly fishing and fly tying’ magazine this week and there is a great article in there about big trout in Spain.

Halfway through, the author (a well travelled fly angler) suddenly says that his local river Otter has been ruined by beaver introductions - it is now ‘littered’ with horizontal trees and basically almost unfishable…

Well that's not my experience, and I fish several different beats totalling about 5 or 6 miles of fishing.
They are certainly messy, leaving a lot of willow twigs and branches in the water, and obviously fell the odd tree into the river, but that's a long way from making the river unfishable.

 

[Stephen Crowhurst]

One anglers unfishable stretch is another’s feature filled venue. Some anglers struggle with long grass.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

One anglers unfishable stretch is another’s feature filled venue. Some anglers struggle with long grass.

My local fly syndicate were lucky enough to get a free advisory visit from a chap from the Wild Trout Trust. In his report he was very complementary about the areas of instream woody debris, and highlighted their importance for fish and invertebrates. These were the same areas that some members believed needed 'tidying' up.