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Volume 1 Pages 1 - 23 (May 1986) European Otter Reports Albania | Denmark | Federal Republic of Germany | Greece | Israel | Ireland | Italy During a visit to Albania in May, 1985 thirty-one sites were surveyed
for signs of Lutra lutra and 17 of these sites were found to be
positive. While the otter appears to be widespread, the rivers and
marshes in the north-west and south of the country seemed to be of
particular importance to the species. Several rivers in the coastal
plain were grossly polluted and increases in agriculture and industrial
development may endanger the survival of the animal. Claudio Prigioni, 'Project Otter' in Denmark is still growing. The survey of otters started in November 1984 using the British survey method has been completed in nearly all counties of Jutland. In brief, of 300 quadrats (10 km sq.) visited, signs of otters were found in only 65, mostly in the north-west region. We hope to finish the survey of the whole country by the summer of 1986. The distribution of otters in relation to season is being monitored regularly on two different river systems (the rivers Karup and Hvidbjerg). The first place where disturbance to otters is minimised and where habitat is protected and improved to suit the otters' needs (otter haven) has now been established in Denmark. I am sure that this will provide a good example to government agencies of what can be done to improve the otter situation. A report "Otters and fish traps" has been prepared. This report is being sent to the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Fisheries with requests to establish negotiations on orders to use excluders on fish traps. Investigations of 25 otter carcases - including reproduction, age-determination and environmental pollutants -will probably be carried out in the spring of 1986 in cooperation with Swedish otter experts. Several talks on the radio and articles in newspapers and magazines have been produced and a folder and poster about the otter are now published. Aksel Bo Madsen, Surveys: Only small regional surveys have been carried out. Signs of otters in West Berlin (see Rahn, 1980) have been confirmed. In Lower Saxony otters have been found in some new places where they were not discovered during the last major survey 1927-1979. The "Aktion Fischotterschutz" has organized additional training meetings for German surveyors. Research: The otter research enclosure in the Bavarian Forest National Park closed in the summer of 1985. A final report is available (see Mau, 1985). In the Oderhaus otter research enclosure the following long-term studies are currently in progress:
Reports are being prepared on the following studies which were completed in the last few months: Locomotion in the water (please contact Rolf Eggers, Zimmerstr. 19, D-3300 Braunschweig); Studies of limnology and bank structure in East-Frisian otter habitats (Theo Poppen, Schutzenweg 30, D-2900 Oldenburg); Reactions to the deprivation of cover (Claus Reuther); Food remains (Claus Reuther). Others in captivity: Successful breeding of L. lutra is reported by Mrs. U. Wilmering with two litters (1: one male; 2 : two females). The second litter resulted from co-operation with the Oderhaus research station who own the female. Breeding also occurred between females from the Schwarze Berge wildlife park (Hamburg) and the Springe wildlife park and the Oderhaus male, Adam. This resulted in two litters of one cub each but both, died within the first few days. A meeting for the exchange of experience of all German otter keepers was held from 9th-10th April, 1986 at the Oderhaus research enclosure. Biotope Management: The otter biotope management plan for Lower Saxony, including 5,000 km of rivers, is planned to be published as a directive in 1986 by the government of this federal state. Because discussions about this directive have taken so long, "Aktion Fischotterschutz" has started a private biotope management programme. Since Christmas 1985 more than 80,000 DM have been collected. In January 1986 the first river banks were bought and the establishment of otter retreat areas (otter havens) has been started. In addition, more than 500 km of rivers could be closed for all types of boat traffic and more than 10 nature reserves covering more than 1,000 ha have been established for the otter by the government of Lower Saxony since 1984. (But we need much more!) Theo Poppen will be engaged by the Government for at least one year to put the Lower Saxony otter biotope management plan into practice and to work as an adviser for the water management authorities. The government of Schleswig-Holstein has now engaged a biologist who will carry out a similar biotope management plan for that federal state also. Others: We remind all scientists to send new publications about all species of otters to the "Aktion Fischotterschutz". They are needed to be included in ISOL. Detailed information about the Information-Service-Otter-Literature (ISOL) is available from Claus Reuther. The "Aktion Fischotterschutz" has produced a video of their movie "Project otter - inquiries about the life of a threatened species". Information on this video is enclosed. People who wish to receive the "Otter-Post" regularly should contact Claus. This journal of the "Aktion Fischotterschutz" is published four times a year. It is written in German with a short English summary for each issue. Two very interesting papers on genetic problems in the release of captive-born animals have been published in Germany and are recommended to all people planning such projects (see Hasse, 1985 and Radler, 1986 in the PUBLICATIONS). Help Required: I am planning to publish a book containing all the most beautiful stories about otters. This will not be a 'scientific' publication but will be a collection of articles, parts of books, poems and folk tales. If you have any suggestions please write to me or send your contributions. I especially need stories about sea otters and about otters in Africa and Asia. The address is given below - thank you. Claus Reuther, It is now well established that there are still widespread populations of L. lutra in Greece. For some years, fears have been expressed that entry of Greece to the European Economic Community could, through subsidised increases in agricultural and industrial production, adversely affect otter habitats. Many Mediterranean countries, including Greece, suffer from soil erosion due to overgrazing by sheep and goats. Such erosion can frequently result in high silt levels in rivers which can limit or eliminate fish populations. Sadly, early signs of EEC influence on habitats are already being recorded. The latest issue of "Nature - the Bulletin of the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature" (December, 1985) reports that - "The situation has become even more disturbing recently (the end of November, 1985) because the European Community has announced that it will grant a subsidy of 900 drachmas for every goat. So, Instead of a restriction on there will be an increase in the flocks of goats". An otter, shot by a hunter at Messolongi, western Greece, was
collected by Martin Gaethlich. The tissues, analysed at the University
of Essex, showed low levels of organochlorines and metals. The results
are consistent with the healthy otter populations in this part of the
country. In March, 1986, we, together with Dr. Benny Shalmon, carried out a field survey for otters in Israel. Signs of the animal were found throughout much of the Jordan system including the Hula Valley to the north, the catchment of Lake Kinneret and the River Jordan itself. Gross water pollution poses serious problems in the coastal plain. The Israeli otter population is confined to a small region and, while thriving at present, is clearly highly vulnerable. Sheila Macdonald and Chris Mason, It is probably correct to say that otters Lutra lutra are common in Ireland. Living in the west, it is my experience that in most cases a watercourse, lake or seashore that looks suitable will yield signs. Indeed spraints sometimes turn up in somewhat unlikely places. However, surprisingly little work has been carried out on the animals here. Apart from Arthur Stringer's observations, knowledge of Irish otters up to 1970 consisted of occasional notes in the literature. Since then there have been three main sources of information. The first is an unpublished study by the Forest and Wildlife Service, the main government wildlife body in the Republic of Ireland. As far as I know this concentrated on two counties. It included surveys of holts and signs and analysis of around 1,000 spraints. Peter and Linda Chapman produced the Otter Survey of Ireland 1980-81, which was financed and published by the Vincent Wildlife Trust. This represents the most important advance of all. Of 2,373 sites checked 91.7% were recorded positive for presence of otters. The third source of data is a series of analyses of spraints from freshwater and marine habitats in the west of Ireland conducted recently in the Zoology Department at University College, Galway. Our knowledge of L. lutra in Ireland up to 1983 is reviewed in my book An Irish Beast Book (2nd Ed. 1984, Blackstaff Press, Belfast), more recent publications being cited in the Bulletin. Modern Irish work has therefore been almost entirely in the form of surveys and spraint analysis. Virtually nothing is known of actual populations, of breeding or movements. There is no research underway at the time of writing (January 1986) and no apparent plans by either government or private bodies to monitor status, even though repeat surveys were strongly recommended by the Chapmans. No special funding is available in areas which might include a major study on otters. Although interest in wildlife is increasing, in reality nature conservation is of minor importance politically both in Northern Ireland and in the Republic, certainly if birds and deer are ignored. It seems likely that, in the foreseeable future, any research will be carried out from the universities or possibly by amateurs and will be of a minor kind. Arthur Stringer, "The Experienc'd Huntsman" The earliest series of accurate recorded observations on the Eurasian otter would seem to have been made by Arthur Stringer, huntsman to Viscount Conway on his estates on the eastern shores, of Lough Neagh in the north of Ireland. Stringer, whose father came over from England in the seventeenth century to work in a similar capacity, became a mammal specialist in the course of his career. He was an acute observer, kept extensive notes and was extremely sceptical of the contemporary literature on the chase. This led him eventually to produce his own hunting manual based entirely on personal experience, The Experienc'd Huntsman, which was published in Belfast in 1714. Until its recent republication in 1977 - it is now out of print again - it remained an obscure curiosity. It is nevertheless worthy of perusal by twentieth century mammalogists, for not only are there hunting methods, but also accounts of 'the nature' of the various beasts. Stringer's treatise on L. lutra (somewhat less than 5,000 words) is clearly based on accurate observation, although his deductions are not invariably correct. He describes signs, holts and couches. He mentions fighting by dog otters over females, stating that 'The otter breedeth at any time of the year and hath commonly two, three, four or five young at a time'. There are also notes on mortality among cubs and details of food habits. While he thought that birds and mammals were not taken and that otters ate little anyway, most of his conclusions are right. The main foods he considered to be 'fish, frogs and worms' and that eels were the staple item. This is particularly likely to be true near Lough Neagh. Stringer's instructions for the actual hunting of the animals also make fascinating reading. It would be interesting to learn whether there are, in fact, earlier reliable accounts of the natural history of Lutra lutra. James Fairley, In December 1985 the "Gruppo Lontra Italia" completed the otter national survey started in June 1984. This 18-month project was financed by WWF-Italy by means of special grants obtained from the Ministry for Forestry and Agriculture. The field survey has involved more than sixty people, most of which had been previously trained for such research in the River Fiora training area, while some had followed special otter training programmes in Great Britain and Greece. The standardized survey methods recommended by the IUCN Otter Specialist Group (European Section) have been followed as far as possible. Two special sheets have been used: a "research" sheet for collecting data on habitat features and other useful elements of the visited sites, and another sheet for collecting historical or indirect data about stuffed animals, killings, sightings, etc. An effort was made also to gather all bibliographic or circumstantial evidence about the past distribution of the otter in Italy. The project comprised 29 different sub-projects, one for each. Italian region and for some especially interesting areas such as those of Rivers Sele, Fiora and Farma/Merse, the Lake Burano catchment, the Abruzzo National Park, the Delta of River Po, and the small lakes around the Como Lake. Moreover, a special enquiry was made about the otters kept in captivity in Italy during the last 15 years (only a pair of captive otters exist presently in our country, in the Faunistic Park "La Torblera" near Novara), and also a study was made of the fossil otters known so far from Europe and the Mediterranean Region. Nearly 1,200 sites were visited during the survey throughout the whole of Italy, but only 75 (6.4%) were found to be positive for otter signs. These were mainly concentrated in regions such as Basilicata (21 positive sites), Campania (22), southern Tuscany (10), northern Latium (5) and northern Calabria (4). Abruzzo and Molise provided respectively 2 and 3 positive sites only, while a single positive site only was found in Liguria (north of Savona) and in Emilia-Romagna (Comacchio area). All other regions proved to be completely negative. The best otter areas were confirmed to be those already discovered by Sheila Macdonald and Chris Mason in 1982, i.e. the Fiora and Sele catchments, while better findings than expected came from the Agri and Basento Rivers in Basilicata. The future of the otter in Italy appears therefore to be linked to the conservation of these remnant populations, all of which unfortunately are presently menaced by various projects (dams, factories) and lack of habitat protection. The full results of the otter national survey, including a general report on this research and proposals for the conservation of the otter in Italy, is being published by WWF and will appear shortly. Fabio Cassola , |
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