Salmon Fishing Scotland Reintroduction of Beavers to Scotland.
This is a very serious issue as all Salmon boards in Scotland are trying to improve river habitat by freeing blockages such as falling trees to maximise the spawning potential but SNH are proposing to release beavers in Scotland which will then undo the work carried out by river boards at great cost. Salmon fishing is extremely important to the Scottish Economy and brings in millions of pounds and provides hundreds of Jobs in the rural community. What planet are these people on?
Beavers Face Off Against Salmon in Scotland
A former British cricket star is leading a group of celebrities who are concerned that reintroducing beavers in the country could be “catastrophic” for salmon fishing.
Beavers to Make a Comeback, After 400 Years
Retired cricket player and recreational salmon fisherman Sir Ian Botham says that a plan to bring beavers back into Scotland could seriously damage the country’s salmon fishing industry, which is worth about 75 million pounds per year. Native beavers have not been seen in the country in 400 years, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Other celebrity anglers who have joined Botham in his opposition include former ITN newscaster Fiona Armstrong, former Gordon Brown spokesman Charlie Whelan, and BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman.
Four beaver families are planned for release in Knapdale, Argyll, in the spring. If the initial project goes well, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland plan to release hundreds more of the animals across the Scottish countryside as part of a six-year project. However, research suggests that dams built by beavers could cause 80 percent of salmon spawning locations to become blocked in several areas, which would in turn affect juvenile salmon numbers.
“Salmon stocks took a hell of a hammering in the ‘60s on a lot of rivers and are only just starting to come back,” Botham said to The Telegraph. “A lot of work and time and money has gone into developing these rivers and making sure they fulfill their potential and go back to what they were.”
Opinion & Analysis: “Is the reintroduction of beavers a serious threat to Scotland’s salmon stocks?”
Sources in this Story
* The Telegraph: Sir Ian Botham warns beaver plan could be catastrophic for salmon fishing
* The Scotsman: Cricket hero Botham among celebrity anglers who fear reintroduction of Beavers will decimate salmon stocks
* The Scotsman: Burning Issue: Is the reintroduction of beavers a serious threat to Scotland’s salmon stocks?
* findingDulcinea: Unsolved Sea Lion Death Spotlights Fight over Salmon
* findingDulcinea: UK Rabbit Policy Illustrates Animal Protection Conflicts
* The Independent: Washington plans mass slaughter of America’s mustangs
Andrew Graham-Stewart, a writer on salmon and salmon conservation issues, writes in the Scotsman that despite the beaver lobby’s claim that the animals are harmless, dams will have a serious effect on salmon numbers. He calls it “crassly irresponsible” for Scottish authorities to risk harming a $100 million pound industry that employs more than 2,000 people. “We are told that hundreds of years ago salmon and beavers co-existed happily in Scotland. Even if that were the case (and there is no way of knowing how the two species interacted back then), the situation now bears no comparison. Land use has changed beyond all recognition, and we now have a salmon angling industry which is entirely dependent upon there being adequate numbers of adult salmon to catch.”
“Introducing beavers into Scotland is a ludicrous proposition. They will upset the ecological balance—they’ll be wanting to bring back bears next,” Whelan said to The Telegraph.
But Simon Jones, Scottish Beaver Trial project manager at Scottish WildlifeTrust, points out that more than 25 European countries have been successful in reintroducing beavers in the past few decades and that they have been found to have a positive effect on wildlife. “If beavers were indeed a serious threat to salmon, there would have been scientific research and widespread active beaver management to show for this, which is not the case. If salmon were unable to get over or bypass beaver dams they would not be found above them—yet evidence shows they are.”
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