While Sammy the Seal's frequent appearances near the river banks have delighted families, his eating habits have frustrated anglers who have been unable to reel in a bite.

The lack of fish in the river was obvious at a top fishing competition this weekend, where some of the country's best anglers went home empty handed.

Of the 121 competitors in the National Federation of Anglers Individual National on Saturday, which took place on the Middleholme and North Bank section of the Nene, 53 failed to catch a single fish, with many more failing to break the one pound barrier.

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Evening Telegraph Angling correspondent Ken Wade said the poor haul was the "biggest disaster" to ever hit fishing in the city.

He said: "This was one of the biggest matches in the calendar, and there were some really good anglers taking part, but they were not able to catch anything.

"We used to get coach loads of anglers coming here every week, but now it is very quiet.

"Fishing wise, the river has been getting worse for three years, and I am worried we might lose some of the big events we hold here."

Mr Wade said he was convinced that the lack of fish was down to the reappearance of Sammy and his pals on the city riverbanks.

He said: "Sammy the seal looks fantastic, and it's great for the kids to be able to get a photo of him, but seals do a lot of damage to fish stocks.

"I think there could be up to three seals on the river near the city, and it doesn't take a genius to work out what that would do to the fish levels.

"The river water is also very still and clear, which is the worst type of condition possible.

"We need the weeds cut, and the seals taken back to their natural habitat at The Wash."

However, despite the empty nets at the weekend, the Environment Agency, which looks after Britain's waterways, said that they were happy with the level of fish in the river.

A spokeswoman said: "We carry out regular surveys of fish in the river, and we are very happy with the level of life there at the moment.

"I can only assume the anglers in the competition were just very unlucky.

"The water quality has improved in recent years, which is beneficial to fish."