Working Together to Safeguard Stock and Habitat
Protecting Our Fish from Predation

Working Together to Safeguard Stock and Habitat

Predation by birds, mammals, and even illegal human activity can seriously impact fish stocks, especially vulnerable species like silverfish and juveniles. At HAA, we take these threats seriously and rely on our members to help us monitor and protect our waters. If you witness signs of predation—such as excessive bird activity, fish carcasses, or suspicious behaviour—please report it immediately. Early reporting allows us to respond quickly, implement protective measures, and liaise with the relevant authorities or environmental agencies. Together, we can maintain a balanced ecosystem and preserve the quality of fishing for everyone. Stay alert, stay informed, and help us protect what matters.

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What Our Permit Holders Should Look Out For

Spot the Signs of Predators on Our Waters

Permit holders play a crucial role in protecting our fisheries. We ask all permit holders to stay vigilant and report any signs of predatory activity as soon as possible. Keep an eye out for otters, cormorants, goosanders, and mink  — as well as evidence such as mink skat (droppings), fish remains, or disturbed bankside areas. Early reporting allows us to assess risk, protect stock, and act quickly with mitigation where needed. Your observations are vital in managing the balance between wildlife and fishery sustainability. If you see anything suspicious, let us know immediately.

Otters

As the otter population continues to recover in various regions of the UK, alongside the growth of still water fisheries, concerns regarding the effects of otter predation are increasing.

The Highbridge Angling Association has successfully completed Phase 1 of its 650-meter project, which has implemented well-designed protective measures that have demonstrated significant effectiveness. The association is now pursuing additional funding to extend fencing around the perimeter of Walrow.

Phase 2 – pending funding, 150-meter section

Phase 3 – Completed. In response to the rising housing developments that may impact the railway lake, the Highbridge Angling Association has installed a 120-meter electric fence section to prevent otters from accessing our lakes.

Why did the Highbridge Angling Association collaborate with Hampton Steel?

Given the requirement for 600 meters of fencing to finalise Phase 1, choosing Hampton Steel was a straightforward decision for the Highbridge Angling Association. They aimed to protect the fish stock without compromising the landscape; thus, selecting a boundary that was visually appealing was also a priority.

Hampton Steel provided a 30-year warranty on their product, which was well-received by the Highbridge project team. Additionally, the installation of 150mm I-Beams every 50 meters, along with 150mm diameter galvanized tubes driven 1.8 meters into the ground, has resulted in a robust otter fence.

Product specification
About Hampton’s Otter Fencing

Our steel wire otter fencing solutions safely and successfully exclude otters without harming them. Protected by EC and European Law, otters can be one of the most destructive predators, so our specialist otter fencing offers an appropriate solution.
Hampton NET™ for otters has the versatility to withstand even the most cunning of otter attacks. It boasts incredibly strong joints, preventing otters from forcing the wires apart, while remaining aesthetically sympathetic.

Hampton’s otter fencing is offered up to 228cm high with small apertures and includes a hinged, angled top section, effectively preventing otters climbing up and over.
Customers can opt for either a single fence specification with the lower section buried creating a mesh barrier to any otters attempting to burrow under, or a two fence system which features a skirt laying at ground level to similarly help with exclusion of otters.
The low profile knotted joint has no protruding ends so, whilst helping to exclude the otters, they are kept from harm.

Here is a 5 minute article about otters.

Decline and Recovery
Historically widespread across the UK, the otter faced significant challenges due to hunting and escalating river pollution linked to industrialisation in the early 19th century. By the late 1970s, it became evident that the otter population in England and Wales had experienced a sharp and alarming decline since the late 1950s, a trend that showed no signs of reversing. By 1980, the species was nearly extinct in much of England, parts of Wales, and certain regions of Scotland. The dramatic population decrease in the latter half of the 20th century was primarily attributed to pollution from agricultural pesticides, particularly a class of chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons or organochlorines. These same substances also contributed to significant declines in other predatory bird populations, including the peregrine falcon and the sparrow hawk.

Since the 1960s, there have been multiple bans on the use of organochlorines, and in 1978, the otter received its first partial legal protection in England and Wales. The 1980s marked the beginning of a recovery for otter populations. In England, efforts to bolster the population included the release of captive-bred otters in various locations during the 1980s and 1990s. Additionally, extensive initiatives have been undertaken to restore riverside and wetland habitats, facilitating the otter's natural resurgence. This recovery has been further supported by consistent improvements in water quality, particularly following the prohibition of pesticides like dieldrin. European otter, Lutra lutra.

Otters are fully protected under several legal frameworks, including the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA), the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, and the EC Habitats Directive. The provisions of the Habitats Directive are incorporated into national law via the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 and its subsequent amendments, which apply to England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. As a European Protected Species, otters enjoy the highest level of legal protection. This comprehensive legislation prohibits the killing or injuring of otters, as well as any actions that may damage or destroy their breeding or resting sites or impede access to these areas.

Additionally, the WCA makes it illegal to intentionally or recklessly disturb an otter in its resting place or breeding site, and significant disturbances are also prohibited under the Habitats Regulations. For further information regarding legal protections, individuals can consult the appropriate statutory nature conservation organisations, including Natural England, the Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland.

Prey and feeding behaviour
The majority of an otter’s diet, usually 70-80%, is made up of fish, especially eels and other slow-swimming species. Amphibians are also a key food source, but they will also eat crayfish, waterfowl and small mammals

Otters hunt by sight where they can, but can fish in turbid water, using their whiskers to sense vibrations in the water caused by fish movements. In fresh water, otters generally feed at night, starting around sunset, since this is when many fish species become torpid and easier to catch. They feed for periods through the night, and in between spend time grooming and resting.

Habitat and home range

Otter biology

If the fish taken is small, or a larger fish hauled some distance to a favoured feeding location, then only scattered or a cluster of fish-scales may be present. Larger fish hauled to the shoreline are unlikely to be eaten in their entirety, but may be partially stripped of flesh then discarded in situ. If visits to the fishery are infrequent, then skeletal remains may be all you discover, particularly once other predators have visited and also eaten parts of the dead fish.

A resident otter will occupy a well-defined ‘home range’, usually including a stretch of river as well as associated habitats including side streams, ditches, ponds, lakes, wetlands, woodlands and the sea.

The size of an otter’s home range depends largely on the availability of food and shelter, as well as the presence of neighbouring otters. On rivers a male home range may be up to 40km of water course and associated areas. Females have home ranges half the size of the males, and favour quieter locations with little disturbance, particularly on tributary streams rather than the main river.

Otters which do not have an established home range are known as ‘transient otters’. These may include young animals dispersing from their mother’s home range, individuals seeking a mate in areas where population density is low or any other otter looking to find an unoccupied area to inhabit.
Transient otters may make use of an area for a short while like garden ponds, but will move on if conditions are not suitable, or if they are forced to do so by resident animals.

Within an otter’s home range there will be a large number of resting sites. These may include above-ground shelter in dense scrub and undergrowth, amongst flood debris in rocks and boulders, and in reed beds; in undisturbed areas an otter may just curl up in tall grass. Underground ‘holts’ include cavities under tree roots, enlarged rabbit burrows, badger setts, caves and dry drainage pipes. Otters may even rest under sheds or amongst piled timber. Resting sites are often very difficult to identify.
Otters may breed at any time of year. The female otter selects an undisturbed holt close to an abundant food source often away from the main watercourse, in which she gives birth to a litter of one to four cubs (normally two or three). The cubs remain in the holt for about three months and stay with the mother for up to a year, by which time they should be independent enough to catch their own food.

Fish bones & scales, frog bones sometimes crayfish fragments, animal bones, Size and shape varies from a tiny blob to a compact cylindrical dropping up to 60mm long Fresh spraint is black and tarry, slightly
Sticky Smells sweet, similar to cut hay or jasmine tea Recent spraint is drying out, turning oily green in colour and may crumble Old spraint has dried out, become pale grey and crumbly, like cigar ash Also look for tar spot and anal jelly, Usually made up of fur and feathers, with some bones and fish scales
Twisted and tapering to a point, more like a small fox dropping No wider than 10mm Dark brown to black, shiny when fresh smells very unpleasant, similar to rotting Meat Older scats go mouldy rather than crumbly and lose their scent feathers

Not to be confused with: Bird droppings; these vary with species, but most smell muddy or, if fresh, of ammonia. Some may contain fish remains, but lack the distinctive otter smell Duck droppings are usually greenish and are often gritty

Fisheries and otter predation

  • All managed still water fisheries and fish farms provide otters and other predators with an easy and abundant food supply which they are unlikely to ignore.
  • Even though otter populations have not yet recovered in some areas, the natural recovery of otter populations is continuing and otters will become re-established in most, if not all, areas over the coming few years.
  • All still water fisheries are at risk of being found by an otter at some time, even if the site is far from major watercourses. Otters follow very small streams and ditches, even if they are dry, and will even cross open country in search of feeding and resting sites.
  • It is therefore important to assess the implications of predation by otters seriously, wherever a still water fishery is. Your local Wildlife Trust or Environment Agency fisheries and biodiversity officers should be able to offer help and advice on how best to protect your fishery.
  • It is therefore important to assess the implications of predation by otters seriously, wherever a still water fishery is. Your local Wildlife Trust or Environment Agency fisheries and biodiversity officers should be able to offer help and advice on how best to protect your fishery.
  • It is therefore important to assess the implications of predation by otters seriously, wherever a still water fishery is. Your local Wildlife Trust or Environment Agency fisheries and biodiversity officers should be able to offer help and advice on how best to protect your fishery.
  • All types of unprotected Still water fishery are vulnerable to predation by otters. The degree and cost of the damage will vary, depending on the type of still water fishery. However, there may be occasions where a still water fishery provides a particularly easy supply of food, and in these circumstances an otter may spend a disproportionate amount of time on the site.
SEE IT REPORT IT

Cormorants and Goosanders

Fish-eating bird

With the range of pressures on our freshwater fisheries, the explosion in fish-eating bird populations is having a demonstrable impact on many rivers and fish

Cormorants and goosanders

Whilst predation is part and parcel of the natural world there is no doubt that any imbalance between predator and prey can have a serious long-term effect on fish stocks.

Appearance: Large birds with black, shiny feathers, a white thigh patch in breeding season, and a long neck.
Diet: Primarily fish.
Daily Consumption: The average daily consumption for a cormorant is around 1-2 lbs (0.5-1 kg) of fish.
Hunting Techniques: Cormorants are skilled fish hunters, using their webbed feet for swimming and diving to catch fish. They can even dive for up to 70 seconds

FAQ section image
FAQs

Cormorants

  • Cormorants are increasingly common in the UK, both along the coast and inland on lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. There are two main subspecies: the coastal-nesting type and the Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis which has led to the increase in inland nesting colonies. Cormorants are large birds with black, shiny feathers and a white patch on their thighs during the breeding season

  • The cormorant is an apex predator, unmatched in nature, and is unquestionably one of the biggest threats to the health of our inland fish populations, with there being hardly a country in the world that accepts it as an acceptable coexistent without robust management.

    Cormorant numbers in the UK have increased from 2,000 in the 1980s to a current over-wintering population of more than 62,000, and with each bird requiring at least one pound of fish every day, the level of conflict is immense.

    Goosander numbers have also been increasing in recent years. Initially in Scotland, these birds are now regularly seen across the north of England, in Wales, and the west of England around the Wye and the Severn.
    With the range of pressures on our freshwater fisheries, this explosion in birds is having a demonstrable impact on many rivers and fish.

  • Since its conception in 2009, the Angling Trust has been campaigning to make it easier for fishery managers to protect their precious fish stocks from cormorant and goosander predation and for greater control of these extremely damaging fish-eating predators. We continue to believe that the best outcome would be for cormorants to be included on the general licence as long as the conservation status of the birds is not threatened.

    However, despite strong representations made during the last review of the General Licence in 2019/20 we have not been able to persuade ministers to adopt this approach, which is why we are pressing for the best possible outcomes within the licensing framework.

    Pressure from angling organisations and angling-related businesses initially saw a previous government introduce a limit on the number of cormorants licensed to be shot to 2,000, with a temporary increase to 3,000. Since then, the work of the Angling Trust has led to fishery managers applying for a greater number of cormorant licenses, and the introduction of area-based licenses.

    The Trust’s two fishery management advisers are available to support clubs in managing fish predation from both cormorants and goosanders and to apply for the necessary licenses from Natural England.

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