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What's your honest assessment?

Totally agree there Neil, that’s why I think the best method is to get those that make the decisions to come to the conclusions. Hopefully they will address the other issues to as I think it’s a multi angle issue. We have to paint them (the environmentalists bodies) into the corner, not the other way round.
 
Where the hell did you get that from Neil about elephants?!
Pretty sure their numbers have been crashing rapidly, they may be perceived as a 'problem' in some areas, but this is due to human expansion not elephant expansion!
 
Rhys Perry said:
Where the hell did you get that from Neil about elephants?!
Pretty sure their numbers have been crashing rapidly, they may be perceived as a 'problem' in some areas, but this is due to human expansion not elephant expansion!
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Kruger National Park...the decision not to continue culling in 1994 until now has resulted in a diminished Environment. An example of not managing a dominant species to the detriment of others.
 
For me, and reading back my ramblings, I am confused, on one hand I embrace seeing all creatures in the wild, and yes even the Otter, I look for different creatures every day, when I take the dogs, peering into the local stream waiting for the first signs of Chub in the Spring, watching the Heron hunting, the Egret and hoping that pair of Swans actually hook up and produce some fluff balls...well all of that I did witness just a few years back...then we were graced with Otters and the local ladies and school kids were all over it, the media loved it, what a success story..if only they knew the truth, you and I know.
 
Can we talk about motorbikes again.
Just got one of these.
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Neil Smart said:
For me, and reading back my ramblings, I am confused, on one hand I embrace seeing all creatures in the wild, and yes even the Otter, I look for different creatures every day, when I take the dogs, peering into the local stream waiting for the first signs of Chub in the Spring, watching the Heron hunting, the Egret and hoping that pair of Swans actually hook up and produce some fluff balls...well all of that I did witness just a few years back...then we were graced with Otters and the local ladies and school kids were all over it, the media loved it, what a success story..if only they knew the truth, you and I know.
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I like to see mice scurrying about in the garden, but when I hear them in the loft I set traps. I think grey squirrels look pretty, but red squirrels don't agree I guess. There has to be a balance, and the balance has been tipped much too far in the otter's favour IMHO.
Foxes in the hen-house.
 
Ben you tinker...well I agree that perhaps Barbel numbers may have been too high at one point, very much to the detriment of other species mainly Chub. Your comment regarding lack of natural predation, surely just now predation is the biggest concern ? Not just Otter but the biggest threat of all arguably the Cormorant.
I went off on one recently thinking that predation actually improves the DNA pool, including Barbel, not that I would accept that sort of thinking would go down well with everyone.
But I get the gist of what you are saying, however it might be more appropriate to consider farmed Carp pools as opposed to rivers?
 
Hi men,

Im actually joining a water that i dont intend to fish , just hoping in some way the extra funds can help protect it from predation. I fished the pool in the late 70's , and love the place to this day , it feels like home . Nice little video of what a bunch of scruffy anglers are trying to do , and a lovely soundtrack.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=912769158901783&id=260799310765441

Great night and raised money for amature enthusiasts to fence the lake I love .


Hatter
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
Perhaps one way of gaining some insight in to the the problem of declining numbers of barbel on some rivers would be to look at a river where there doesn't appear to be a problem ? The obvious candidate for this would be the river Wye which is a magnet for barbel anglers and appears to have a very healthy stock of barbel and most other species . I am only an occasional visitor to the river so perhaps the barbel regulars amongst us , particularly those who live near the river and fish it very regularly would be best placed to comment ?
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I note the comments made in Paul's post about some concerns re Otters on the Wye, however to my eyes they don't seem to be having a devastating effect on fish stocks as virtually everything I read about the river indicates that the river has a very healthy stock of fish . Do any Wye regulars have any views as to why the Wye with a significant Otter population thrives despite this ?
 
Neil Smart said:
Kruger National Park...the decision not to continue culling in 1994 until now has resulted in a diminished Environment. An example of not managing a dominant species to the detriment of others.
Click to expand...
From 'The Times Online" today ;
"Botswana’s success in protecting its elephant population has created an ecological nightmare in parts of the country. Chobe in the northeast is home to as many as half of the country’s 130,000 elephants, by far the largest population on the continent. The loss of biodiversity here is a graphic illustration of how destructive too many elephants can be. In Chobe 92 per cent of biomass is now elephant, with a substantial loss of species such as bushbuck and warthog. At the same time there has been a reduction of tree species from 17 to two, depriving birds of nesting sites and small land species of cover".
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
I note the comments made in Paul's post about some concerns re Otters on the Wye, however to my eyes they don't seem to be having a devastating effect on fish stocks as virtually everything I read about the river indicates that the river has a very healthy stock of fish . Do any Wye regulars have any views as to why the Wye with a significant Otter population thrives despite this ?
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Because the levels of fish population are high anyway, but on a pro rata basis are diminishing? The multiple Barbel captures of over 10 was common, in fact on a WUF stretch you could do that in an hour so. No so much nowadays. But plenty of small Barbel abound, so not worried just yet.
 
The Wye.
A large river with plenty of opportunity for fish to escape. Unlike the mostly affected smaller rivers.

A certain amount of "control" from ghillies especially on known Salmon beats.
 
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