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Post by rodney on Jul 18, 2023 17:29:39 GMT
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Post by rodney on Apr 28, 2023 12:51:44 GMT
A friend of my daughter who lives close to Llangadog Common has just sent me this depressing poster about 'Saving the Towy Valley' and wondering or hoping the CFF and Towy Clubs, individuals etc have made representations. Attachments:
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Post by rodney on Aug 27, 2021 17:08:03 GMT
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Post by rodney on Jul 31, 2021 16:50:46 GMT
FEBs don’t distinguish between adult and juvenile brown trout, sea trout or other species, they eat all river fish. I would suggest any angler interested in this topic should watch the presentation in 2018 on YouTube by Niels Jepsen who has done a great deal of research into the impact cormorants have had on fish and smolt predation in Scandinavia. It’s depressing and available at this link. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u-RCGNsYW8I’ve been in touch with Niels Jepsen again recently and he kindly sent me an update on latest data and I paste some of his reply here: “I did publish some new grave results, documenting a very high impact from cormorants on in-river fish, especially juvenile salmonids, reducing winter survival from 70% to 5-20%. New results from this winter shows even higher predation with as much as 98% of all fish eaten from October to March. We are now really feeling the hurt on our river fisheries and what you describe is very common here now as well, it as a genuine disaster. Our coast fishing is also in free fall – decline, due to super heavy predation on almost all life stages" I can’t attach NJ’s Powerpoint file as too large for this site. But have included a pdf paper Jepsen_etal_2018.pdf (715.44 KB)by him and others from 2018 that documents the drastic impact even a few cormorants can have on populations of resident river fish.
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Post by rodney on Jul 18, 2021 18:43:00 GMT
This is all very interesting and informative but also extremely depressing. Sadly no contribution from the NFU. Unless and until there is true accountability from our politicians and the executives of those companies and organisations causing pollution nothing will change. We hear PR claptrap and weasel words from the elected politicians who are supposed to represent us. Executives of those companies breaking the law should be heavily fined or go to prison and then we might see some positive changes and accountability. All anglers, clubs and angling associations in Wales and England should lobby their respective governments and MPs and especially those relevant individuals in the NRW, some of whom are sea trout anglers, who are the current custodians of the rivers in Wales. What a legacy they are leaving. I fear it may be too late for the Towy.
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Post by rodney on Apr 27, 2021 10:32:23 GMT
"In accordance to culling with guns, is it essential to use non-toxic ammunition, I.E. the same for wildfowling etc. It's illegal to use lead when shooting waterways/estuaries etc."
I surrendered my firearms certificate and shotgun licence quite a few years back so not up to speed with current regulations. But from your post it implies some shotgun cartridges are still available with lead shot. I'm surprised lead isn't banned entirely.
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Post by rodney on Apr 26, 2021 22:11:41 GMT
"Yes - because the number allowed by the NRW in the annual culling licence is inadequate."
What has been the number allowed by the NRW for each of the previous years in force.
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Post by rodney on Apr 25, 2021 14:53:30 GMT
Thanks. I would have thought all or many Towy anglers would be interested to know this data as well and surprised why it’s not already in the public domain.
Yes I agree, still far too many FEBs about, which begs the question that any culling isn’t working.
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Post by rodney on Apr 24, 2021 22:01:36 GMT
Hi diaben.
Thanks for this. I wasn’t aware of angling clubs’ annual FEB count and am awaiting a response to an enquiry to my club. Meanwhile perhaps you can advise the CFF’s annual FEB count for the past five years or so and the actual number of birds culled. What time of the year does this count occur and when is the cull.
One of my club colleagues, who lives local to the river, saw about half a dozen cormorants when walking the water just prior to opening day. And another mate, who fished the river the second week in April, disturbed some Goosanders.
However, as you’re seeing less Goosanders on the Towy than five years ago the cynic in me thinks perhaps there’s nothing left for them to eat so perhaps they’ve gone elsewhere, or maybe the cull is working!!
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Post by rodney on Apr 24, 2021 21:59:37 GMT
Hi rodney, This is an annual exercise and the licensed number of birds allowed to be culled is based on the Carmarthenshire Fishermen Federation's organised F.E.B. count carried out by angling club volunteers throughout the length of the Tywi each year. For whatever reason, I am seeing far less goosanders now than I did 5 years ago.
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Post by rodney on Apr 22, 2021 17:55:30 GMT
How many birds was the cull licence for. There needs to be a continuous cull as those culled will soon be replaced. It's no different to popping off squirrels, as they are soon replaced by their cousins.
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