Hungry otters force fishery to spend thousands on giant fence
ONE of Britain’s premier fisheries has spent tens of thousands of pounds on erecting fencing to protect its prized fish from being slaughtered by otters.
More than two miles of 6ft-tall wire fencing now surrounds the two lakes at the fishery, which are filled with carp, including Britain’s biggest weighing 80lbs.
Large coarse fish can be worth as much as £30,000 a piece as they attract anglers who pay good money for the chance to catch them. But in recent years carp and barbel have been threatened by the resurgence of the wild otter population in Britain, which eat the fish. A number of fisheries have had to close as a result of the loss of stock.
Wingham Fisheries in Canterbury, Kent, has become the latest to fence off its rural lakes with the barriers.
The move comes after the UK Wild Otter Trust admitted mistakes were made when hundreds of protected otters were released into the countryside in the Eighties and Nineties to boost their dwindling numbers.
David Webb, chairman of the trust, said more research should have been carried out into the effects they had on rivers and fisheries.
He also conceded that the carnivorous mammals would have regenerated naturally without the help from wildlife campaigners.
Steve Burke, who owns Wingham Fisheries, said it was inevitable that the otters would target his fish, which include nine carp weighing more than 50lbs, prompting him to install the fencing.
He said: “It’s only a matter of time before otters arrive everywhere, and with the size of the lakes and the terrain we couldn’t have put up fencing quickly.
“In the meantime we could have lost some historic fish. It was therefore essential to act before otters returned to this area of Kent.
“Having spent over 20 years creating something beyond my wildest dreams I couldn’t stand by and allow it to be destroyed in perhaps as many weeks. It’s been a massive cost, but clearly the right thing to do.”
It is not known how much the fencing has cost but the fishery received a grant from the Angling Trust to fund some of the work.
Otter numbers plummeted in Britain in the Fifties due largely to pollution from pesticides and habitat loss. But since otter hunting was banned in 1978 and organochlorine pesticides were phased out, they have successfully recolonised many waterways, with the help of wildlife conservationists.
The otters enjoy protected status and it is illegal to harm them or interfere with their habitat.
Over the last few years the Environment Agency has released to the Angling Trust more than £1 million from the £21 million a year it nets from rod licences. The trust then awards grants to fisheries wishing to install otter-proof fencing to protect their stock.
Martin Salter, head of campaigns at the Angling Trust, said: “Individual specimen fish, especially big carp, are prized by anglers who pay several hundreds of pounds a year in club membership fees to fish such waters. The
‘Otters are an apex predator, they didn’t need outside assistance to recover’
value of record-breaking fish can be measured in thousands of pounds and we are seeing that fisheries are prepared to spend substantial sums to protect their stock from otters.
“Otters are an apex predator, they didn’t need any outside assistance in their recovery. The artificial introduction of them was unnecessary and, in some ways, irresponsible as there was no consultation with fisheries.”