Cormorants and other threats to our fishing

[billyfish]

Haven't been out to look at the River Otter for a while. Looking down through the bridge at Tipton what do I see ? A cormorant fishing away in the low water. What chance have our natural fish got ? We are quite happy to accept the reintroduction of beavers because they are indigenous. What about the FEB's , mergansers and goosanders that are now on our rivers , including the Otter. They are not indigenous and must be dealt with. Unfortunately the will is not there and quite frankly we will get what we deserve. How many of you people on this forum will stick their head above the parapet and speak out against the harm these imports are doing to our rivers. We now have sawbills, herons , egrets, as well as cormorants devastating our fish stocks. Perhaps agency's such as the many fishing forums should actively canvas the relevant authorities and state our concerns about what is happening to our wonderful,dare I say it iconic , wild brown trout. We involve ourselves in catch and release and riverfly projects as well as many other well meaning schemes only to see our good intent lost in the various protections offered to out of control predation.
I've experienced the good times but I feel sorry for the new generations who will miss out on the benefits of what is a fantastic sport/ pastime.

[marcouns]

What are FEB ‘s

[terry]

Marcouns, FEB,s are fish eating birds.
Billyfish, we are of a similar age and I to have experienced the good times and feel exactly as you do on this subject.
I would be happy to raise my head but apart from resigning from the RSPB due to their objections for any form of culling and quitting my support for the Devon Wild Life trust ( I oppose the introduction of beavers even if they are or were indigenous.) I find it frustrating that I can't find a way of being more pro active. I considered trying to interest my local MP but after the reply I got when asking her opinion on the wholesale slaughter of Wrasse of our coasts for the use of controlling sea lice in salmon farms I decided it wasn't worth the effort.
My best effort to date was letting David Pilkington of the Arundell Arms know the location of a cormorant on one of their beats upon which he promptly despatched it. The hotel has a licence to shot cormorants.
If yourself or any other members of this forum can think of a way of jointly showing our very real concerns I would be more than happy to offer any support I can.
Sorry to out rant you Billyfish but I am as passionate as your self on this.

[paul]

Ditto, ditto, ditto! No to to RSPB, no Devon Wildlife, no to beavrers, shooting ducks might be legal even if they are black, and nobody in autority cares.

[boisker]

Well you make your choices I guess....
Devin Wildllife Trust is managing a 5 year project assessing the affects of the beavers that were already in the Otter, a small number were added to try and stop in-breeding at the end of the project DEFRA will decide the beavers fate... and DWT manages the project, but it is a partnership with Clinto Devon Estates and a whole range of other bodies.
DWT runs farming advisory projects on the Otter, Dart, Exe and Torriidge working with farmers and trying to improve natural resource management to reduce the impact of sediment/pesticides etc... in the region of 12 full time posts...
Oh... and ran a wrasse campaign and met/spoke with ministers trying to stop the wrasse trade...
But you’re no doubt right.. best to sit back in an arm chair, post on forums and do nothing...

Or perhaps you could change jobs, no doubt earn less and try and resolve some of the issues by working in the conservation/farm advisory or political sectors???

Nah probably best to just moan on a forum

[terry]

Boisker I find your comments upsetting and with great respect rather offensive and not what I would expect from this forum.

I have great respect for both the RSPB and the DWT but surely as passionate as you obviously are you should be able to at least respect my views.
The beaver situation is not the concern ( although I still believe we have enough to sort out on our rivers without introducing an unknown)
It is the FEB's that is the worry for me and others it would seem. I have fished on Dartmoor for 30ish years and my first rare sighting of cormorant, merganser or gooseander was probably only about 7 or 8 years ago now they are VERY common. I have noticed a definate reduction in fish stocks over the years and firmly believe these birds are directly responsible.

With regard to me changing jobs I have to say that now retired and nearly 70 I doubt whether any body would employ me. My working life was as an Engineer working mainly for small companies involved in numerous environmental projects which at the time I considered to be more important than trying to prevent beavers interbreeding. But that is only my opinion.
All this has left me with a basic pension so I would find it difficult to down size my income.

I don't want to sit in my arm chair and moan ( Christ knows I have enough trouble getting out of it these days ) but would like someone to take serious notice of our very real concerns before it is too late. As Billyfish stated we surely owe it to the next generations.
Terry

[boisker]

Terry
Colin’s post was related to fish eating birds... DWT has never had any policy or commented against a cull... and yet we’re dragged into the thread.... To be blunt what did beavers have to do with the thread?

If you have a problem with the RSPB position on cormorants why drag DWT into it? I was just giving an alternative view as to what DWT does to protect rivers... actually it was late so I didn’t even cover the full range at al well.

There are lots of ways people could get involved to protect ‘their’ rivers..... I wonder how many commented on the public consultation on the future of ‘food, farming, environment survey???

If I appear a bit blunt then I apologise, it’s the first time I think I have ever commented like that on this forum, but then I work @@@@@@ hard and if people want to criticise DWT then I fully respect their right to, but I feel I also have the right to offer a an alternative view...

Don’t worry I won’t post again on any thing related to conservtion/ protection of environment / rivers

[paul]

Hi,

Sympathy with Terry,

Boisker,

Your very sarcastic contribution in my view overstepped a reasonable boundary of mutual respect wrt Terry..

YOur enthusiastic views are obviously deeply held, but so are those of others.

Were the oiginal beavers illegally released?

If so, given the number of other very well advanxed trials in othe parts of the UK and elsewhere in Europe, they should have been removed pending the results elsewhere and a proper environmental study, not added to as a
nice little local project.

I also have some problems with charities that employ commercial fund raisers to sell the sob story and take a large cut (80%+?? of first years subs) for each new recruit

I lack the vast experience of terry and colin, but must say the sight of the cormorants and goosanders on the Exe (and even the gulls that have frighetend my wife in stealling her lunch at the coast), mkes me feel somwehting should - AND COULD be done.

Cheers, Paul

Perhaps the heat and the pointless forays onto the river Bribble has made us all a little more scratchy than our normal acceptance of a wide church of views!

[boisker]

To quote my previous post... “if I appear blunt then I apologise”...

And once again... beavers had nothing to do with Colin’s post... but since you mention them again...
They aren’t advanced trials in Europe... England (and U.K.) is one of the of the very few European countries that used to have beavers as part of their natural range that still hasn’t reintroduced them...
and the Devon trial is very different to those found in Scotland, it’s a lowland England river environment... completely different.

Anyhow, definitely my last post
Cheers all

[paul]

This 'inmate' would feel very much the poorer without Boisker's regular contributions to the forum- greatly enjoyed!

[sanctuary67]

Don't worry boisker your not going mad. Absolutely unbelievable !!! Funny thou ☺

[yeoman]

Good post.