Written question asked by Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party) on Thursday, 9 December 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 December 2010. It was answered by Lord Benyon (Conservative) on Thursday, 16 December 2010 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Otters

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what information her Department holds on the number of otters in the UK in each of the last five years.

Answer: National surveys of otters for England and Wales have been carried out at approximately seven year intervals since the late 1970s but the results do not represent individual otter numbers.The Environment Agency recently published results from the Fifth Otter Survey of England, commissioned in 2009-10. The results show an increase in sites showing signs of otter from 36.3% in 2000-02 to 58.8% in 2009-10.Distribution patterns suggest population densities in the south-west, parts of northern England and along the Welsh borders have reached levels comparable to before the pesticide-related decline of the 1960s-1970s. Similar recovery across the whole country is expected to take another 10-20 years.The Fifth Otter Survey of England is available to view on the Environment Agency website.The Fifth Otter Survey in Wales was carried out in 2010 and the data are still being analysed by the Environment Agency.This is a devolved matter and information is not held for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Secondary information