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This will make you laugh.....

Some of the comments from Anglers are cringeworthy to say the least.

My favourite was 'carp are at risk of becoming an endangered species'

Hope all the those threatening licence boycotts get hefty fines if they do so.
 
Jon Bedford said:
Some of the comments from Anglers are cringeworthy to say the least.

My favourite was 'carp are at risk of becoming an endangered species'

Hope all the those threatening licence boycotts get hefty fines if they do so.
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Presumably you agree with what the EA does with our license money then? The comments from anglers are understandable considering we are the only sport that funds the EA, and they are championing one of the major causes of that sports decline.
 
Not all no, but I ain't gunna stop buying a licence because of it.

There are some very valid comments on there, and I agree with quite a few. But there are also some comments that are cringeworthy and total nonsense.

Jon
 
Hi men,

I asked a tree hugger how much a year she donated to the upkeep of the otters home , and if she would match the 7 licences we buy in our family , it was a short conversation .


Hatter
 
Jon Bedford said:
Not all no, but I ain't gunna stop buying a licence because of it.

There are some very valid comments on there, and I agree with quite a few. But there are also some comments that are cringeworthy and total nonsense.

Jon
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I agree Jon.

I was amused by the comment that suggested that without anglers, the nations waterways would soon become stagnant, and the one that suggested that Scottish salmon farmers should be worried about the reintroduction of the beaver...??
 
There really are some ridiculous posts on there, 'animals go extinct for a reason' yes! Well done! 'water vole numbers decreasing' from otters? And my personal favourite 'these are European otters that have been introduced and they're bigger than our native ones'! Even more worrying I've heard these European otters might even be Muslim! :eek:
And that's discounting all the usual nonsense 'shoot them!' 'Tree huggers/do gooders blah blah blah' it's no wonder nobody listens to any of it.
 
I think you will find the criticism of the EA statement is because its utter nonsense..
The Rivers are clean , we here them say proudly , and fish life has never been better !
Well , the EU say differently , missed targets year after year after year..

You have to ask yourself , why do other European countries , who have healthy Otter populations , also have healthy fish populations...

I do honestly think far too many Otters were reintroduced , and something has gone very wrong and been poorly managed from the beginning..

The incompetence of the EA supporting reintroducing a Apex Predator in numbers to a already declining Riverine system , is staggering , given they knew the water quality was no where near EU water directive requirements.

Its hard not to blame the Otter when you see prized fish ripped to pieces, but believe me, the real Villains are the EA..

The EA no more serve Angling , than the RSPB do..
 
Craig Wood said:
I think you will find the criticism of the EA statement is because its utter nonsense..
The Rivers are clean , we here them say proudly , and fish life has never been better !
Well , the EU say differently , missed targets year after year after year..

You have to ask yourself , why do other European countries , who have healthy Otter populations , also have healthy fish populations...

I do honestly think far too many Otters were reintroduced , and something has gone very wrong and been poorly managed from the beginning..

The incompetence of the EA supporting reintroducing a Apex Predator in numbers to a already declining Riverine system , is staggering , given they knew the water quality was no where near EU water directive requirements.

Its hard not to blame the Otter when you see prized fish ripped to pieces, but believe me, the real Villains are the EA..

The EA no more serve Angling , than the RSPB do..
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I'm no fan of the EA and they rightly should be criticised for not doing enough to improve the health of our rivers and for failing to properly implement the WFD.

But whatever your views on otters, it seems a little unfair to blame the EA for otter reintroduction, or even for supporting otter reintroduction, given that the EA was was formed in 1996 - that is 7 years after the last official/legal Otter release in 1999 by the Otter Trust.
 
Joe Winstanley said:
I'm no fan of the EA and they rightly should be criticised for not doing enough to improve the health of our rivers and for failing to properly implement the WFD.

But whatever your views on otters, it seems a little unfair to blame the EA for otter reintroduction, or even for supporting otter reintroduction, given that the EA was was formed in 1996 - that is 7 years after the last official/legal Otter release in 1999 by the Otter Trust.
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1996 is seven years after 1999 :eek:

There, that just proves it, my maths is all shot to hell. That's the trouble with getting old :eek:

Cheers, Dave.
 
David Gauntlett said:
1996 is seven years after 1999 :eek:

There, that just proves it, my maths is all shot to hell. That's the trouble with getting old :eek:

Cheers, Dave.
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Haha - glad to see your still quick Dave.

I did mean 1989 - but actually as someone else has just pointed out to me my typo was actually correct as 17 otters were released in the south-east (Thames?) in 1999.

But in any case it wasn't the EA 'wot did it'. It wouldn't have been within their remit to do so, those statutory powers lie with NE, or EN as it was then.
 
It's not so much what the EA do or don't do regarding otters, it's how little they take any notice of anglers views when anglers fund them more than any other leisure water related activity. I was at a show in Stratford last summer where the EA stand had a huge poster of an otter, spouting similar **** to this. I got into a conversation of sorts about the damage to specimen fish caused by otters and predictably got the response that not only otters kill specimen fish. When I asked the EA "officer" what else would drag a 14lb barbel up the bank and eat it's offal the conversation was over. He didn't want to know and that is what frustrates anglers, the EA won't even accept any alternative information or views to their own blinkered opinion. Whatever rubbish this poster spouts, one thing is obvious. Coarse fishing, at least on rivers, has had it's golden era and we are now entering a period of rapid decline.
 
Alex Gowney said:
It's not so much what the EA do or don't do regarding otters, it's how little they take any notice of anglers views when anglers fund them more than any other leisure water related activity. I was at a show in Stratford last summer where the EA stand had a huge poster of an otter, spouting similar **** to this. I got into a conversation of sorts about the damage to specimen fish caused by otters and predictably got the response that not only otters kill specimen fish. When I asked the EA "officer" what else would drag a 14lb barbel up the bank and eat it's offal the conversation was over. He didn't want to know and that is what frustrates anglers, the EA won't even accept any alternative information or views to their own blinkered opinion. Whatever rubbish this poster spouts, one thing is obvious. Coarse fishing, at least on rivers, has had it's golden era and we are now entering a period of rapid decline.
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Well said Alex, that pretty well sums the situation up. Sadly, chances are that the naysayers will now pop up with all their stuff, such as "We were lucky to have those golden years, so we should be grateful for that, and 'embrace' the new situation." :eek:. Well, fair enough, they are entitled to their opinions...but it's a bit defeatist in my book. It's a bit like finding that a government department has decided that a homeless person should take your house over, forcing you to live in the cellar, then telling you that you were lucky to have had your house as long as you did, and to 'embrace' the new situation.

The point is, the government, via their minions the EA, has as ever taken the populist stance in order to cover up their shortcomings. They are well aware that our rivers are, overall, on a steady decline. They have failed us, failed our wildlife, and to cover that up have instructed the EA to keep ramming farmed fish into our rivers to maintain the pretense that all is well, and to support that illusion by claiming that the return of otters is an indicator of riverine improvement. They have propagated that illusion, that fantasy, by depicting the cuddly, furry, aaaah inducing otter as a Disney like character, using that to gain public support rather than the condemnation due to them for their failings. It's a very clever ploy, I grant them that, because the general public have absolutely NO idea of the true situation and so are easily duped. However, why so many anglers are also blinded by this subterfuge, by the blatant lies behind it, is beyond me.

I don't have much time for the EU, but in my opinion they have it right for once in demanding that the UK improve the water quality in our rivers. The pesticides that decimated the otter population may have been banned, but the host of other chemicals in our waters have reached worrying levels. Some of these have long been recognised for the threat that they represent, others are less well known, especially the possible long term affects. Most of these principally affect fish, or the organisms fish feed on. Only time will tell whether the concentrations of these chemicals in fishes organs or tissues will ultimately destroy the predators that eat them...poetic justice if they did perhaps! Whatever, these new and old pollutants are the major reason for the decline in our fish stocks, with the plethora of old and new predators mopping up what's left in many rivers, thus becoming the straw that broke the proverbial camels back.

All in all, the slow death of our rivers is one of the only factors that makes getting old a reasonably good idea. We old 'uns have experienced things, in fishing terms and a number of other aspects of life....that I very much doubt will ever be repeated. A selfish thought perhaps, but one I will lay long odds on proving ultimately to be correct.

Cheers, Dave.
 
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