Tackling mink on club waters: a real-life success story using smart traps technology

Eric Prescott, Chair of the Angling Trust, is also Chair of a couple of local angling clubs near his home in West Sussex. In this latest Lines On The Water blog, he shares what happened when a club member reported seeing a mink on the water.

Like many of you, my clubs have suffered heavily from cormorant predation over the winter. As a result, we’ve been left with a number of damaged and distressed fish – easy prey for the American mink, an invasive non-native species with no natural predators.

So when a member reported a mink sighting, our club secretary mentioned an ingenious solution he had seen in action at another club: a system promoted by the Waterlife Recovery Trust (WRT). He made contact with their local organiser, and within a couple of days we had a floating smart mink trap installed at the lake.

The trap was secured to a bankside tree and baited with a pheromone ball to attract the mink. The floating platform featured a cage trap made by Perdix, specialists in wildlife research and conservation equipment.

What really sets it apart, though, is the remote monitoring device supplied by Remoti. This allows instant alerts when the trap is triggered. The secretary and I were registered as monitors, with our mobile numbers logged by the WRT’s regional manager.

We were told it might take up to three weeks for a mink to show interest, so you can imagine our surprise when, just two days later, we received our first activation text at around midnight.

The next morning we met at the water to find a very unhappy female mink in the trap.

There is, of course, an unpleasant but necessary side to this work. If you set a trap and catch a mink, you are responsible for dispatching it humanely. It’s not something anyone relishes, but it is essential to prevent the spread of this damaging predator.

The WRT website is an excellent resource, offering clear guidance on trap setup, humane dispatch, data recording, and the safe release of any non-target species.

We took the carcass to the local WRT manager, where it could be used to harvest pheromones for future traps. The trap was then reset and returned to the lake, the pheromone lure remaining effective for several weeks.

Remarkably, the following night the trap was triggered again. The next morning revealed a large, very agitated male mink. This too was humanely dispatched, and the carcass delivered to the WRT.

We’ve kept the trap in place and, three weeks on, there have been no further captures. We plan to leave it for a little longer in case another mink moves into the vacated territory.

All in all, it’s been a swift and highly effective success.

The WRT was originally established in East Anglia to explore whether mink could be eradicated from the region. They now believe this has been achieved, with encouraging signs such as the return of water voles, sand martins, and other ground-nesting wildlife.

Part-funded by the Environment Agency and supported by public donations, the charity does not yet cover the entire UK. However, they are well worth contacting for advice and support, wherever you are.

Useful links:

Waterlife Recovery Trust

Perdix

Remoti