Otters and anglers

[stripee]

Do people fishing in rivers welcome the return of otter populations? From a wildlife point of view it is good that otters are back in our rivers, but I wondered if there is a conflict of interests over fish?

[mh68]

The main gripe i`ve heard from anglers regarding Otters up here has been damage to the big Carp stocks in syndicate/private fisheries. But...on many of these waters the small "nuisance" fish species (which are the preferred prey of Otters) are removed as the Carp anglers dont like being pestered by them. Result - the Otters begin taking the Carp as their usual sized prey arent there any more.No one to blame but the anglers themselves in those circumstances.
Otters and fish stocks have co-existed for a long, long time.As usual its only when the prey/predator balance is tampered with that problems begin.
Of course the same thing will happen if there are natural population crashes in prey fish stocks, the Otters are forced to switch to larger prey,which may be temporarily damaging but a balance usually restores eventually.

Mark H

[seamusagleann]

i have no problem what so ever about otters visiting the loch i look after ,so they may take the odd fish! ,but it would be a sickly one ,or one damaged by bad handling . their main diet is eels ,which i may add i seem to have a lot of!!!..so tuck in tarka!!!

[Rob_D]

I was told that the artificial holt at a Cambridgeshire nature reserve had been destroyed by anglers. This was a petty and stupid act - I am amazed that someone thought an occaisional visit by an otter was too much competition. Of course, this was just one incident and doesn't give any idea how most anglers feel about otters.

[mh68]

Originally Posted by Rob_D

I was told that the artificial holt at a Cambridgeshire nature reserve had been destroyed by anglers. This was a petty and stupid act - I am amazed that someone thought an occaisional visit by an otter was too much competition. Of course, this was just one incident and doesn't give any idea how most anglers feel about otters.

Doesn`t surprise me Rob. I know of one angler up in SW Scotland who sought advice on trapping an Otter which was regularly visiting the Loch he was managing, with the "supposed" intention of relocating it. Pointless act really , but he was given info on traps etc and then proceeded to shoot the animal.
Sadly a lot of people are so blinkered that they think anything that interferes with their own interests should be destroyed

Mark H

[stripee]

I was talking to someone who had done otter releases only to face adverse reaction from the anglers, who consider because they are paying - perhaps quite a large sum now - that otters shouldn't be taking any of the fish and there were too many of them. Although when a seal swam up the river they went really ballistic. Thanks mark for your post re types of fish taken. The local rivers have salmon in them.

[shirl]

Our local angling club report all otter sightings / tracks to Derbys Wildlife Trust together with mink sightings/ tracks, I suspect the anglers would prefer otters to mink

Shirl

[mh68]

Originally Posted by stripee

I was talking to someone who had done otter releases only to face adverse reaction from the anglers, who consider because they are paying - perhaps quite a large sum now - that otters shouldn't be taking any of the fish and there were too many of them. Although when a seal swam up the river they went really ballistic. Thanks mark for your post re types of fish taken. The local rivers have salmon in them.

I think with the drastic depletion in Eel numbers, which were the Otter`s preferred prey, problems for Otters will only get worse, as their shifting food preferences will create more conflict between them and anglers.
On some Sw Scottish lochs I fished, lack of Eels prompted the Otters to start feeding on larger species such as Pike. I caught quite a few sizeable pike (36 inches plus) with teethmarks around their heads/gills caused by Otters.Can`t blame the Otters though, theyre just adapting to survive.

Mark H