The Otter debate has divided angling as far as opinions are concerned, I was very much against Otter but since I have listened to both sides and I would much rather have Otter in our Rivers than not, but of course there will always be a settling in period where nature has to adapt to having an apex predator such as the Otter in her rivers.
There have been casualties and that is truly heart breaking, no one enjoys seeing a dead barbel or any fish come to that but I TRUST nature and so should we all, was it not for Man's hand we would not have nearly wiped out the Otter so I think we owe the Otter a reprieve.
Of course the irony is that it is mostly Anglers that get to see Otters in the wild, and the one's I have seen don't leave me with a feeling of despair but rather awe, for it is a beautiful specimen of that there is no doubt, And that is the rub my friends the Otter IS beautiful we and fish are not, so to try and influence the public that we have the rights over the Otter will be a PR disaster and will lead only to curtail our rights to fish some Rivers.
I much respect the likes of John Wilson and Martin Bowler, but the author seems to have struck the right balance, however having such a vocal and famous group to contend with he will have his hands full.
However when I hear of the demise of some rivers, and the experience of Mark in particular I fell utterly saddened that the Rivers are in decline, but can we really put the blame on the Otter alone, or is it a combination of other factors that we are only too aware of?
BFW is the most important Angling forum, it has members that have a wealth of knowledge regarding Angling , and the ability to express themselves, personally I believe it would be a mistake if we as a majority vilified the Otter whilst missing perhaps the main reasons for the demise of our Rivers.
You are quite right of course Neil, to my mind most of your points are indisputable. We all recognise and understand that there are a great many reasons for the sad state of many of our rivers....and that most of them are entirely man made
.
We rather like to trot out our failings and destructive and wasteful habits that lay behind many of the problems besetting our rivers...the pollution, over abstraction, drainage of/building on natural flood plains and the near criminal flood prevention measures that need to be taken as a result of that. The list goes on forever. To our shame, we cant deny any of it, and despite this ritual 'beating up of ourselves' we indulge in by repeatedly publishing these sins, we are seemingly incapable of mending our ways....so the chaos continues
When you add to that the havoc that imported species such as signal crayfish are wreaking....eating the meagre levels of eggs and fry that our beleaguered fish do manage to produce, and.....no, sorry, the damage such critters are doing to our native flora and fauna is well documented, so you don't need someone like me to point it out, though apparently it WILL get worse. Cormorants? What can I say....the experts claim that the current unnatural levels of these birds (and who knows whether or not man caused
that problem as well, though some experts are claiming that most of the birds currently causing our problems are in fact NOT our native birds....but that is another issue
) has caused, and is continuing to cause unsustainable levels of damage to the fish stocks in many of our waterways. All in all, there are so many serious issues challenging our fish at present that it is a testament to their tenacity that any survive at all in our more pressured rivers!
It is a true and happy fact that some rivers (usually for geographic reasons) have so far escaped the worst of our depredations and so are relatively healthy. It is also true that there are some rivers where a wonderful, hard earned rejuvenation has taken place...rivers that run through areas once heavily industrialised and previously virtually dead have now been bought back to life. However, those lucky few are a minority....I think it is fair to say that the majority of our rivers are in a very sorry state, with some poised on the edge of disaster. In fact, I don't think many anglers or ecologists or whoever would dispute the sad fact that this combination of pressures has reduced the majority of our waterways to a shadow of their former selves, with stocks of not just fish, but the entire food chain in a desperate and unnatural state of decline.
Now...if we accept that, then we must ask the inevitable question, the question which for me is the whole crux of this thorny otter issue/argument....call it what you will. That question is this...was this an appropriate time to encourage/bring about the return of an apex predator such as the otter...or not? I KNOW some will say that the otter has returned naturally, due to the banning/removal of the chemicals that caused it's decline in the first place....and for all I know, they may be right. However, it is an indisputable fact that there
was a breeding programme which took place, and a hotly disputed number of artificially raised otters were released into our rivers. There have been, and still are strong rumours of numbers of further unofficial stockings taking place. Some apparently reliable sources claim that these stockings are still going on now, taking the numbers of otters
which possibly no longer act in the way their wild parents did ( If true, that suspicion MAY prove to be crucial)...to way beyond the officially admitted levels.
Like most of those on the outside looking in, I find it impossible to tell fact from fiction....there are undoubtedly people with their own agenda on both sides, putting their own slant on things to suit themselves. All I do now is that because these undeniably handsome animals appeared in numbers at a time when so many rivers were in decline, with almost zero recruitment of youngsters for many years running, they resorted to the only route left open to them...they ate what was left...the adult fish, hence the demise of places like Adams mill, most of the Wensome etc, etc. Now...call me cynical if you will, but that doesn't sound 'natural' to me. Nature tends to allow predators to spread and increase when food is abundant...NOT when it is critically low, as has been the case in many instances on this occasion. Natural?....doesn't sound right to me. Will things level out eventually, given time? Who knows, I certainly don't. That would be the 'natural' thing to happen....but then precious little of what has happened so far in this matter seems 'natural' to me....worrying.
Whatever, there seems nothing that we can do about it now....once again, we have made our bed and must lay in it, as they say. Let us see though what the groups investigating the matter now come up with. I have a great respect for Tim Paisley, the chairman of this PAG, he is a man of many talents and great insight....and writes and argues with great eloquence. If anyone can guide the more radical members of that group towards engaging in meaningful dialogue and thinking, he can. I wish him well. And for those who seemed to have missed it, this group is affiliated to, and working with the AT....not against or despite of!
Sorry about the length of this latest version of 'War and Peace'....as you may have gathered, it is an issue I give a great deal of thought to, and those thoughts have developed and changed as I have learned more and listened others peoples opinions.
Perhaps I should get out and do more fishing, rather than worrying about it, lol.
Cheers, Dave.
