By Gordon Goldie With the higher than normal winds curtailing a lot of boat fishing pretty much since the Tagathon event in November, I’d been dying to get back up to my boat at Loch Sunart for a couple of days to see what was about. As always, I’d been watching the weather forecast for days beforehand and it was looking ...

A U.S conservation organisation has released an app that allows iPhone and iPad users to track the movement of several Great White Sharks fitted with satellite tags. This novel idea came from marine biologist Michael Domeier, the president of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, who has studied these iconic sharks for many years. The aim of this project is to raise public ...

Below is some excellent underwater footage of a large male common skate recorded in January 2012 in 60m of water off the Black Craig, Orkney. The footage was recorded by Dan Wise. Copyright the Orkney Skate Trust. The screenshot (right) shows a close up still of the skate swimming.   More footage of ...

Bull sharks are renowned for their ability to tolerate fresh water (the Bull Shark has been recorded some 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometres) upriver from the mouth of the Amazon) and until recently Lake Nicaragua in South America actually had a resident population of breeding Bull sharks... however the Nicaraguan dictator Somoza permitted a shark-fin processing plant to be built on ...

As you'll remember we had to call off the proposed AGM in November 2011 due to weather. It will now take place on Wednesday the 1st February 2012 at the Carlton Hotel, Prestwick (KA9 1TP) and will start at 7.00pm. If any Member would like to propose a Resolution, please ensure it is received by the 24th ...

Shark species in the Clyde have all but disappeared. Although most people know that the Clyde was once one of Europe's prime destinations for cod, haddock, saithe and other white fish species, very few are aware that prior to 1960, 30% (by weight) of all demersal fish in the Clyde was made up by spurdog, thornback ray and tope. ...

Over the last few years the SSTP has brought together tagging data from our own database and historical data from the Glasgow Museum Tagging Programme and the UK Shark Tagging Programme to form a single database of Scottish shark tagging information. Analysis of this data over the last few weeks has brought one particularly interesting tag and recapture to light. A female ...

Welcome to the December 2011 issue of the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme (SSTP) Newsletter which highlights some of the key moments in another successful year and an insight to some opportunities for next year. We hope you will find it an enjoyable and informative read. You can read the full newsletter by following the link here SSTP Progress Report 2011. Recognising everyone ...

The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a complete ban on the practice of shark finning - where fins are sliced off sharks when vessels are at sea, and the dead or dying shark is thrown back to sea. The move follows the Scottish Government's lead, which strengthened the shark finning ban for Scottish vessels in January 2010, ...

Today we look at the Blackmouth Dogfish in the tenth of our Species Fishing and ID guides. If you have a picture of yourself with a Blackmouth Dogfish and want to show it off on this page please send it to contact@ssacn.org or post it on the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme’s Facebook page! Remember to keep checking www.tagsharks.com to make sure ...

Any idea what caused the wound in the following photo ? No ! Well, skate and rays are common bycatch in many trawled fisheries; to return the fish to the water some commercial fisherman cut a 'handhold' in the fish to make them easy to handle; with larger fish they will cut ...

Today we look at the Starry Smoothhound in the ninth of our Species Fishing and ID guides. If you have a picture of yourself with a Starry Smoothhound and want to show it off on this page please send it to contact@ssacn.org or post it on the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme’s Facebook page! Remember to keep checking www.tagsharks.com to make sure ...

Tonight's (8/12/11) AGM has been cancelled because of the storm force winds that are due for the region today and the to the long distances many members need to travel. The police and met office are advising there will be trees down and local flooding. We will publish an alternative date once we have determined one.Related posts: Latest SSACN ...

In comparison to fish tagging as a whole, shark tagging is a relatively recent activity. Shark tagging really began with the development of plastic Peterson disc and dart tags; before 1940 only 1,005 elasmobranchs had been tagged and released in UK waters, by 1950 shark tagging projects were well established in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and tens of ...

In part 2 of the “History of Tagging” segment we look at the development and use of electronic tags. The development of electronic tags opened up a wide range of new possibilities and allowed more detailed behavioural studies on short-term movements, migrations, diving behaviour and habitat use. Sharks in particular were identified as strong candidates for electronic tagging programmes due to ...

In this segment we will cover the history of fish tagging from its origins in the early 1600’s up to modern day shark tagging projects. For centuries humans have tried to develop non-destructive ways of monitoring the movements and dynamics of fish populations largely for the purpose of fisheries management, it was this need that drove the development of tagging ...