No need to cull our wild otters

Posted by Northumberland Wildlife Trust on Jun 30, 11 08:30 AM in Bloggers

Otter By Conservation Officer Kevin O'Hara

A mate of mine called the other day to say that, at long last, after years of patiently fishing on many riverbanks and beaches catching absolutely nothing but hypothermia, he had just seen his first wild otter!

The inevitable fisherman's tales followed: "It was this lang," he said (with arms spread wider than the room) "and that was just the hook I used to catch it". To be fair he is a good angler and not as prone to exaggeration as many are, and having been an angler for over 30 years I have known quite a few.

He reckoned it stole a flatfish off his hook about which he was ecstatic; the whole experience had been a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime chance encounter where the otter showed exactly who was the better fisherman. I have fished for many years in wide circles and know many anglers whose feelings toward the 'King of the Flood' are just as reverential; however, my mate also pointed out a recent television and press article which had concerned him in which a well-known TV angling personality was calling for a cull of otters.

I could not stop thinking about the article. Watching it and reading the so-called 'evidence' really got me going and for someone so well-known to publicly state such things was beyond me.

Otters eat fish! Mostly anyway, supplemented by rodents, rabbits, birds, frogs, anything really they can catch. Most of the otters in Britain originated from wild stock, dispersing naturally through careful habitat management and enhancement, plus huge improvements in water quality which have improved fish stocks.

A little over one hundred otters were reintroduced into South Eastern England up until 1999 and no otters have ever been reintroduced in the North East of England.

The otters here in the North East got there by themselves because of four legs, good habitat, water quality and fish stocks. We should be justly proud and I personally am, for having my small part to play in this success.

Much of the story reported in the media centres on southern England and commercial fisheries where yes, I can see there may be an issue, but even here the mistruths are rife!

If I opened a shop with no front door I would expect there to be nothing left in it the following day; similarly if you dig a hole, fill it full of fish and do nothing to protect them, you are asking for trouble, from both humans and animals.

I have fished the region's rivers for over 30 years and in that time my experiences and enrichment, like the quality of the fishing, has increased along with the presence of otters. It is no coincidence that what is good for us and fishing is good for otters too. I want to share my life and river with a creature as beautiful as an otter.

There is no place in our modern society for a cull of any of our native creatures. The world is big enough for everybody - despite the length of some fisherman's tales.

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