Ian Grant
Senior Member & Supporter
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Now that makes sense to me. I believe it was shown that otters prefer to feed on smaller fish, so we need to make sure there are plenty of them to stop them eating all those lovely big barbel.
So we need to tackle the comorant/goosander problem, but also look to improve the fish's habitat/spawning as Steve just said, a proper joined-up solution. Then perhaps we can enjoy the otters living alongside the fish in a balanced river.
An opinion on Otters - are you serious !!! go back over the old threads mr Crook, i'm not banging my head on that wall again, in fact i don't know what posessed me to post this time, a moment of madness - very out of character !
If rivers were a lot dirtier and not so clear / clean all the time we wouldn't have a problem. We would still have lots of fry and lots of roach, dace, bleak etc etc.
Its Boring - utter tripe threads like this one..that is getting this site a bad rep.
Sorry but its the truth
grow up get a life.
paul
In my opinion, I think we would have to see the full EA research document simply because the EA are Pro-Otters and were involved in the re-introduction nationwide. So really, they are biased and not going to admit any liability to the carnage that has been caused to any river and lake fisheries, back track or say sorry!
Perhaps the otters are a bit clever and don't like eating tags with their meal, as the game would be up.... or the otters could be swimming around with the live/active tags in them or the tags could be laying on the riverbed along with the remains!
Were the 20 barbel actually re-netted by electrofishing or the tags detected by a 'transmitter' which is one way the EA do this!
Damn....what did you go and do that for Mr. Grant? Like you, I have had enough of 'Groundhog Day', and wasn't going to bother....but now I feel the need to pitch in. Again, completely out of character
So....my opinion on this Crooky, for what it's worth.
Once again, there have been several posts along the lines of "If we sort the REAL problem out, get the rivers cleaned up and healthy again, then things will sort themselves out naturally'. All very true of course, absolutely spot on....I think we all dream of such an ideal solution coming about.
Sadly though, I think we all know deep down that such a solution to our problems is not about to happen any time soon, because we don't live in an 'ideal' world....we live in a world where reality is tied in to the needs of shareholders and the mighty dollar. Worse still, our little bit of it is effectively ruled by the same people who assured us that the European Union and the Euro itself was the route to salvation Our rather ordinary dreams pale into insignificance when ranged against that lot.....
And again, let's not delude ourselves into thinking that we anglers can do much about it ourselves. Had our human population remained as it was when it was around the fifty/fifty five million mark that it seemed to have levelled out at for a good few years, we would slowly have got on top of the problem in my opinion....but it didn't. Our little Island suddenly has a population the size of which the politicians themselves now admit is unknown....but possibly in the region of five to ten million more than that. No point in causing more controversy by going into why this sudden huge population increase has occurred....the point is, it has....and the increased demand for water, building land, housing and the multitude of other things that go hand in hand with such an event (I don't want to even think about the increase in pollution levels involved!) have put paid to any hopes of solving things in the near future.
So....for now, and probably some time to come in my opinion, we are stuck with what we have....which means that in many of our rivers, we have an ailing population of fish and other wildlife which are fighting a losing battle against declining water quality. (There are exceptions of course, rivers where the quality of water is quite reasonable....but they ARE the exceptions) If we now compound that dire situation by introducing a number of completely new pests, such as spawn eating signal crayfish, mitten crabs etc, or bring about a massive increase in predatory fish eating birds....then the situation will inevitably soon reach crisis point. Low spawn survival obviously means low fry levels. Low fry levels, with those that DO survive the increase in pollution being taken out by cormorants etc., means near zero recruitment of young fish. Net result? Imbalanced, unnatural stocks of large, slow old fish lording it about in many rivers. River record books look good for a while (even national records at times )....but it is a disaster waiting to happen.
Then of course, for reasons apparently unknown, the European population of eels has crashed to an all time low, with total extinction a very real possibility. Add that crucial factor to what is already an almost impossible situation in some waters....we are then in DEEP trouble.
Guess what happens in the more badly affected rivers, if you THEN have an influx of large predators, such as otters....which are more than capable of catching and killing any fish that swims in our battered old rivers?
Are they a threat? No, not on big, healthy rivers, or even medium and small rivers that are in pristine condition, rivers where nature can still affect the outcome. On the many sick rivers, those beyond nature to repair without help? You had better believe it mate.....the final nail and all that
There is of course nothing we can do about that either....like it or not, natural or not, it is a fact....a done deal. Time will tell whether we can get our act together enough as humans to help nature out with the pollution bit before it is past help. Wan't to place any bets? Certainly not in my lifetime, I'll give you decent odds on that!
As I say, all only my opinions....make of them what you will mate
Cheers, Dave.