Cute furry faces, a comical natural inquisitiveness and lead roles in literature have assured the European river otter a place as one of Britain’s favourite creatures.

Having come close to disappearing from this country in the 1970s they have clawed their way back on to the riverbank, even being found recently in cities such as Leeds and London.

But now their resurgence has brought them back into conflict with man. Having seen hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of prize fish gobbled up by otters, anglers are demanding that stocks of specimen fish, the heavyweights of each sport fish species, should be protected.

Anglers can spend weeks or months staking out a lake in the hope of catching an individual fish, such as a 30lb (14kg) carp, only to find that an otter has beaten them to it.

Clubs spend years and many thousands of pounds building up stocks of fish to catch but the fisheries are proving irresistible to the otters. The Specialist Anglers’ Alliance (SAA) says that otters have destroyed entire populations of large fish in some fisheries and have devastated stocks in hundreds more.

Specimen fishermen are now being offered taxpayers’ money to stop the otters from plundering the fish in an initiative that the SAA hopes will lead to £250,000 a year being given to angling clubs.

In a groundbreaking agreement with the Environment Agency the angling clubs have now been told that they can apply for grants to pay for anti-otter fences around fisheries.

River otter numbers plunged in the previous century because of hunting, habitat loss and pollution in waterways, especially from the use of pesticides.

But pollution controls, habitat restoration and reintroduction programmes have resulted in the species clawing its way back. In 2003, the last time a large-scale survey was carried out, European river otters, lutra lutra, were present in more than five times as many areas as in 1979.

River otters are regarded by conservationists as a barometer for the health of waterways as they prefer good quality water with a wide diversity of prey species. However, while to some anglers the sight of an otter remains a highlight of a day’s fishing, it is seen by others as a threat to the sport.

Chris Burt, of the SAA, said that specimen anglers, who returned fish to the water after catching them, were increasingly frustrated by otters, which is a protected species.

One of the problems cited by anglers is that the otters waste much of the fish they catch. They will take a 20lb carp, eat 2lb or 3lb and leave the rest, but go on to catch more fish later the same day. Mr Burt said: “When you get specimen fish being taken by otters it can get very emotional,” he said. “They can wipe out stock in fisheries.”

There are tens of thousands of fisheries in Britain, ranging from a few hundred yards of riverside to 60 acre (24ha) lakes leased by clubs, and individual specimen fish can be worth thousands of pounds.

Mr Burt said that there were two million anglers in Britain, but that the sport was ignored by politicians. “We get extremely bitter when we see hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money being spent on a painting but nothing on the common man’s sport.”

Poacher's haul

One member of the Bungay Cherry Tree Angling Club spent three weeks trying to catch a 8lb tench. When he succeeded the rod was wrenched from his grip as the otter struck

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