Otters down but not out

SOME angler friends tell us they are seeing otters in rivers where they have been very scarce, if observed at all, for many years.

The rod and line men view a healthy otter population as a good sign of water quality.

Not that otters are always easily spotted, for they are secretive creatures. River and lake otters mainly come out at night, with activity peaking at dawn and dusk, according to the Vincent Wildlife Trust.

The otter issue got an airing at a recent court case arising from controversial plans by Kerry County Council to take water from the River Sheen to supply Kenmare. Eoin Kelleher, a council planner and an ecologist, gave an assurance that water abstraction would not have a significant impact on the local otter population.

Something else that emerged was that otters can adjust to whatever environment, even urban, in which they find themselves. Mr Kelleher told of otters surviving along waterways in Cork City.

But, surveys in recent decades have shown a decline in the national population, now reckoned to be around 10,000. Thirty years ago otters were found in 88% of sites surveyed, whereas a 2005 survey found them in 70%.

They are protected under the Wildlife Act which makes it illegal to hunt, disturb or kill them and they are listed among Annex 2 species, under the EU Habitats Directive, which obliges the Government to provide Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) for them.

Otters have a varied diet, including salmon, trout, eels, crayfish and frogs, and the hope is that SACs will help provide them with enough prey, as well as resting and denning sites.

Threats to otters, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), include habitat destruction, pollution (especially from fish kills), and deaths on the roads and fish traps.

While otters have become extinct in some European countries, Ireland is still considered a stronghold for the species, described as one of our “most charismatic” native mammals.