Otter News Archive

Otters eating too many fish, says Labour campaigner

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3rd May 2010

Western Morning News, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom

Calls for otters to be removed from the wild to allow rivers to replenish themselves with fish were yesterday branded as "nonsense" by a leading Westcountry expert.

Martin Salter, former Labour MP for Reading West and an angling campaigner, said the "apex predators" were in danger of decimating fish stocks in British rivers and damaging commercial fisheries.

He accused conservationists of acting irresponsibly by releasing otters without checking there was enough food to sustain them.

He said: "You can't blame the otter for raiding fisheries. They have been released into an environment where there is an imbalance between predator and prey.

"Their numbers have been artificially boosted by a release programme that took no notice of the available food source.

"I don't want to see otters being culled but perhaps the Wildlife Trust could re-home these otters or put them back in sanctuaries until such time when the rivers and waterways can sustain themselves."

Mr Salter, who is standing down as an MP at the General Election, has also called for greater numbers of cormorants – another predator for coarse fish – to be shot.

He added: "It is irresponsible and unfair to allow certain species to wreak havoc on fish stocks due to an unsustainable lack of natural food sources."

The Westcountry was been at the forefront of the recovery of the once-threatened otter population.

From small pockets of populations in North Devon and Cornwall, the species has gradually recovered since damaging agricultural pesticides were progressively banned through the 1970s and 80s.

Benefiting from improvements in river quality, the animals began to expand their range eastwards in the late 1990s. Although still rare, they can now be seen in major urban areas such as Exeter, Barnstaple and Truro. The recovery is regarded as one of Britain's conservation success stories.

Vic Simpson, a Truro-based veterinary pathologist and a recognised authority on otters, said suggestions that otters should be moved was "nonsense".

"First of all you have got to catch them," Mr Simpson said. "If you use snares, the injuries that otters would suffer are absolutely horrendous. If you use cages, then otters will break their teeth trying to escape.

"First of all it is not practical, then there is the question of being granted a licence to trap them and that isn't going to happen."

Mr Simpson said the debate was often influenced by commercial fishing businesses who had lost valuable stocks to otters. He said: "Fisheries will go and spend tens of thousands of pounds on stocking their lakes and yet are too mean to install electric fences, which are effective in stopping otters."

Paul Wilkinson, of the Wildlife Trusts, said there were "plenty of food sources available in the natural environment for otters". He said: "Most anglers welcome their return to our rivers and streams as they are one of the best indicators of a healthy river ecosystem."