This post is extracted from a report written by Captain Andy Bridson who put on a charity fishing event for the Not Forgotten Association which provides leisure and recreation for wounded serving and ex-service men and women with disabilities – guys who deserve total respect. Anyone wishing to make a contribution to their cause can do so via this link.
Andy’s report …… The idea in my head was perfect as I looked out of my office over a dreary winter’s afternoon. I’ll wait till the summer and then take a …

Most tagging schemes offer a small reward to anyone who reports the details of any initial / recapture tagging data. The SSTP has decided to award fishing caps which we hope our volunteers will be proud to wear.
In order to highlight the level of effort we will be awarding caps at three levels; providing data on 10 sharks will earn a bronze logo cap, 50 sharks will receive a silver logo hat and for those who reach the magical 100 – they will receive GOLD.
A list of …

From their website
Vision
The oceans provide an irreplaceable resource to humankind which must be protected and managed into the future. The impact of changes in biodiversity as a result of direct and indirect human impact must be fully considered. 
Aim of the conference
The World Conference on Marine Biodiversity has the overall aim of bringing together scientists, practitioners and the public to discuss and advance our understanding of the issues surrounding the importance of biodiversity in the marine environment. The conference will address issues of marine biodiversity across a deliberately wide range …

During Sharkatag the CBBC / BBC Newsround programme did a item for their programme where the interviewer ‘Leah’ went out in one of the boats along with Kiera Merrifield and Bradley Burrett – you may see the item on the CBBC / BBC website
 
 
 
Leah with Kiera and Bradley

Next up in the SSTP’s tagging events is Tagathon 2010.
This will take place on the 13th and 14th November and run from two usual venues, namely Loch Sunart and Loch Etive. If you wish to take part, please fill in the form at the bottom of this page – please remember to press the SEND ‘button’ once you’ve completed it.
Tagathon 2010 is part of our ongoing data gathering activity to convince the Scottish Government that the stocks of spurdog and common skate in Lochs Sunart and Etive need to be …

Sharkatag 2010 is now well under way and an improvement in the weather has resulted in much improved catches with reasonable numbers of tope, bull huss, spurdog, smoothhound and rays being caught by the anglers around the area and everyone is having a great time.

 
Willie with a smoothhound and Paul with a thornback ray taken on day 2
 
Media coverage was excellent for the second day running – BBC Breakfast TV once again highlighted Sharkatag and one of sea angling’s leading journalists, Phil Williams of Fishing Films …

A mixed day to kick off Sharkatag – some really good fish taken offshore but catches inshore were more variable – some boats managing to take 4 or 5 taggable fish, others struggling to catch any – however, there was a reasonable spread of smoothhound, huss, rays and even some spurdog. There were also good numbers of lesser spotted dogfish to make sure most everyone caught something.
The first fish tagged and entered onto the SSTP database was a 10lb male tope taken by Raymond Scaife fishing from ‘Lady Jasmine’ using …

The updated SSTP recording card is now available for download in pdf form.
You may either print it to normal paper and send it in an envelope to the address on the card, or, you may print it to card and then just use it as a ‘postcard’.
NB:: you may also directly enter your data to the SSTP database.
For those taking part in Sharkatag 2010 – to help us provide up to date information during Sharkatag, please hand in your cards at the end of each day to the SSACN …

The SSTP recently went to Coll to visit Arinagour Primary School to help them scour the beach at Feall Bay for eggcases.
The day was a huge success with (slightly windy) beautiful sunny weather allowing the class to spend all afternoon on the beach after a morning learning fascinating shark facts.
Many Catshark eggcases were found and the pupils were so inspired by the day that a few returned the following weekend to hold their own eggcase hunt, finding a very impressive 48 catshark eggcases!
Aileen Cook, the head teacher at Arinagour, …

Oban is to host a major new 10 day event, celebrating ‘Argyll’s  dazzling marine environment’ and inviting everyone to come and join the adventure.
The Festival of the Sea is a community festival and embraces anything and everything to do with the sea and our expressions of our relationship with it – from marine science, to art, drama, wildlife, history, cuisine, dance, language; it will run from 21st – 31st May.
As part of the festival, there will be a free event at the Corran Halls, Oban on the 25th May from …