Re: Otter fencing!

You are right Bazpeck, galvanized steel does no harm to fisheries at all!
For many years canal banks have been kept in place by many tons of galvanized steel piling, directly in contact with the water.

My suggested method of laying the stock wire fencing on the ground, so long as it is tied to the bottom of the main fence, about every 18 inches and pegged to the ground on the loose side will keep the digging animals out equally as well, at a much reduced cost when compared to using machinery to do any digging.

The bottom wire of the main fence should be no more than 3 inches above to ground, even better if it is touching.

I will amend the above 3 inch ground clearance to a maximum of 2 inch.

Re: Otter fencing!

RiverNovice, you have totally highjacked this thread whereby I showed a viable method of protecting a fishery from digging animals, at a reasonable cost.

NOTHING MORE - NOTHING LESS!

If you want to talk about river pegs - start your own thread.

It is so annoying when threads are hijacked and go off in a totally different direction.

As for your point of stock fencing, it would last for many years and I think by then it would be covered by masses of brambles etc.
This would be an added deterrent to any animal digging.

There are many millions of miles of galvanized fences across the world which cause no problems to any watercourse that I know of.

Otter fencing!

After some thought I have a suggestion to anyone thinking of protecting a fishery from otter predation.
Otters with webbed feet are not good diggers or climbers, it is Mr Fox and Mr Badger that dig the holes and let Mr Otter simply walk in.
They can be kept out without the highly expensive use of machinery to dig ground below a fence which is then filled with concrete.
This method will cost shed-loads of money and can be very difficult to do at some venues.
For a material cost of less than £2.00 per metre the same result as using tons of concrete can be achieved.
All it needs is to use what is known as ''stock fencing wire''!
This would laid flat on the ground on the outside of the fence.
Attached with a strong tying wire to the bottom of the fence, with the other edge fixed to the ground with heavy duty 12 inch long tent pegs.
About one per metre should be OK!
One type has 6inch square holes another has 12 inch x 4inch holes, which when laid flat on the ground, no fox or badger could dig through.
It is made in 50 meter lengths and the 1 metre wide type would be ideal.
With VAT included, on the first price I looked at on Ebay, works out at £1.22 per metre.
The tent pegs I looked at were 80p each including VAT.
Take the VAT off and it is well under £2.00 a metre .
A kilometre of otter protection for less than £2,000.
An absolute bargain!
It would cost more than this to hire a digger.
The cost of the fence itself depends on what spec is required.
You may want to keep people out as well as the otters.

Re: Prompt service from the BAA

We all know that in the past their has been a problem with members not shutting gates when entering and leaving BAA waters. So all it needs is one member to leave the gate open when entering or leaving, Allowing Otters to access the water ?

Re: Prompt service from the BAA

Quite a diversion from ''Prompt service by the BAA'' to otter fences.

But I will add my thoughts!

Otters with webbed feet are useless diggers, however Mr fox is a good digger and Mr Badger is a digging machine.
These are what there has to be protection from, otherwise Mr Otter just walks in.
There are other, cheaper ways of protecting against these earth sifters digging under a fence, such as buried chicken wire or 6inch galvanized weld mesh.
Only under the gate would it require something more substantial so that deep ruts are not formed by vehicles driving through mud.
Even a ''walk-through'' gate would need slabs or concrete protection against wear and tear.