National census of otters to cost €125k

THE state is spending over €125,000 on a national census of otters.

The work was commissioned in response to a European Court of Justice judgment that the state is failing adequately to protect the mammal.

Belfast-based Quercus Consultants — which also scooped the contract for the national frog survey — is being paid €129,981 plus VAT for the work to develop and manage the otter survey.

Work by Quercus, which is based at Queen’s University, on the project is expected to conclude in March.

The otter is protected through the EU Habitats Directive and any person found guilty of killing an otter faces fines of up to €63,487 and/or two years imprisonment.

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht revealed the price of the 20-month contract in response to a freedom of information request.

The otter population has been in decline since the 1980s.

Quercus is being assisted by 75 National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) conservation rangers in its work and the aims of the otter survey is to be provide an up-to-date understanding of otter distribution; an indication of regional variation; an assessment of otter diet; and an assessment of the progress of the otter reaching population targets as set out by the NPWS’s threat response plan.

According to the NPWS’s plan for the otter to the end of 2011, the population estimate is 5,866 adult females, 21.5% below the 1982 figure.

The plan states that the otter continues to face significant threats, in particular from habitat destruction, water pollution, accidental death and persecution.

However, it says that despite the decline “it would appear that the otter population in Ireland remains healthy”.

The plan states: “While measures are already in place to address some aspects of these threats, further action is required in certain areas.”

The NPWS said 44 special areas of conservation (SAC) have been designated in order to protect the otter.

The report confirms that the aim of the threat response plan “is to return all SACs to the status that was recorded during a 1982 survey, while ensuring that no further loss of status occurs outside SACs”.

A 2007 study concluded that road kills of otters was probably the most significant cause of direct otter mortality and, in response, the National Roads Authority prepared strict guidance for the protection of otters during the planning and construction of national roads.