Soapbox
Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE KC takes aim at the goosander problem
IWRITE THIS AS A FORMER MP FOR Montgomeryshire, and as a firm supporter of rural communities and their way of life and traditions. In my view, rural Wales has been progressive and outward looking — for example, prepared to change farming practices to meet contemporary demands, and to take in new developments in industry where they are compatible with community cohesion.
Evidence of that history is in John Henry Cliffe’s 1860 book Notes and Recollections of an Angler, brilliantly and accurately describing his fishing in the rivers and lakes at Tal-y-Llyn, Bugeilyn, the Tal-y-Bont and Cadair Idris lakes, the Teifi and Teifi Pools.
At that time there were no goosanders in Wales — they were not native.
Why do I raise this?
A surge in bird predation has led to massive loss of fish from the rivers, lakes and pools of rural Wales. Fishing is struggling to survive. Government officials have stood by whilst any attempt at balance between fish and predatory birds has been abandoned. The figures are stark. Prior to 1981, there were some cormorants and few goosanders. In 1981, both were given full statutory protection. Between 1981 and 2018, the goosander population rose from a few hundred to 20,000. Each eats an average of 20 salmonoid fish every day, 7,300 per bird per year. They and cormorants take small, and mature and large fish — many photographs prove this.
Some years ago, a goosander, shot under licence, disgorged its last meal — six young salmon, two young trout and an eel. Predation on this scale is out of control.
The current licensing scheme for the whole of the River Dyfi catchment demonstrates what has happened. It allows an annual cull of just two cormorants and three goosanders. They can only be shot when actively feeding, and when in groups of two or more. A scaring programme has failed under the scale of the challenge.
In the 1970s, the rivers of North Wales were teeming with salmon and sea-trout. I used to prosecute poaching cases in places like Caernarfon and Dolgellau: the high number of poachers was proportionate to the number of fish. Since then, in the whole of the UK the rise of birds against fish has resulted in the loss of more
