Will beavers be bad for angling?

Anglers and venue bosses need to wake up to the potential threat that a beaver reintroduction will bring, according to the Angling Trust and fishermen already affected by the rodents.

About 15 beaver families have this month been given a legal right to remain living wild on the River Otter in Devon following a five-year trial, and the prospect of UK-wide reintroduction looms large.

Surprise announcement

The decision to indefinitely extend the Devon trial was made in a surprise announcement by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) last month, catching opposition voices unaware.

The Angling Trust had commissioned an independent report into the trial’s published findings and asked Environment Minister Rebecca Pow not to take any decision before it had been submitted, but the recent announcement has preempted it.

“We wrote to the secretary of state about our concerns that the fish-impact studies for the River Otter were flawed,” said Mark Owen, the Trust’s Head of Freshwater.
“We are saddened that the minister has decided to favour an introduced species over species already present and in need of more protection.”

The impact on rivers

Beavers don’t typically eat fish, but by felling trees, damming rivers and burrowing into banks their impact on waterways can be huge. Dylan Roberts, who leads the fisheries department of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, sits on the fisheries sub-group of the River Otter Beaver Trial.

He told Angling Times:

“This is about raising awareness that it’s not going to be all roses – it’s a major challenge.”
“We are not fans of beavers. They were here 500 years ago, but the landscape is completely different now. We have a much higher density of population and a highly managed landscape. Once they get up to significant numbers there’s going to be huge conflict between beavers and anglers and we have major concerns.
“The drive to reintroduce beavers has been ongoing for 20 years and there are a large number of enclosed beavers waiting for the day they can be set free.”

A question of management

Mr Roberts said he feared beavers would eventually be reintroduced nationally but stressed landowners must then have the right to control them.

“It’s got to be along the lines of how we deal with foxes,” he said.
“Landowners need to be able to call someone in to deal with them quickly rather than the other way, which would basically be the protection given to badgers and otters.”

In Scotland, where beavers have already been reintroduced, licences have been granted for their removal where they become problematic.

Mr Roberts added:

“There will be a big impact on fish and the aquatic environment and it’s a question of who manages and who pays for it.”

Lakes will also bear brunt

Mark Owen explained how the problems won’t be confined to rivers. He said:

“I’ve been over to Austria to meet fishing associations on ex-gravel pits, similar to those over here. Beavers have removed the trees three metres from the bank, which causes a headache for the angling clubs because they have to clear up after them.
“Beavers will drop the tree on a stillwater, not because they want to make a dam, but because it increases secondary growth on the trunk and this is what they graze upon.
“If an animal like the beaver is reintroduced and allowed to go where it pleases then the responsibility for clearing up after it will fall squarely at the door of the landowners and angling clubs.
“Up in Scotland on Tayside, mature trees have just been ringed (gnawed but not toppled) by beavers and then they die off. These are big mature beeches.”

Fish biomass changes

Beaver supporters point to increased fish biomass in rivers where they have been reintroduced, but Mr Owen said the stats can be deceptive.

“Studies on running water where beavers have been reintroduced show the biomass of fish can increase, but it’s not usually in species that are fished for” he said.
“For example, what we’ve found on the River Otter is that the minnow population has exploded.”

The case for the defence

In response, Mark Elliott, an angler who manages the River Otter Beaver Trial for Devon Wildlife Trust, said:

“Beavers have the potential to restore our rivers and make them function more naturally, enhancing water quality. For those of us involved with river restoration – and many of us are also anglers – it’s been exciting to see the huge potential beavers have to reverse some of the damage done by people.
“Beavers coppice trees in a localised and untidy way, creating dappled shade and introducing branches into the watercourses providing cover for trout. Beaver dams are made of sticks and silt, and behave differently from the concrete weirs that cause real obstacles for migratory fish.
“Dams are not built in the main river channels either, but in the smaller ditches and streams where their influence on fish and the flows downstream can be positive.”

(Shutterstock image) Should beavers be reintroduced to the UK?