But we can’t let it go without thanking all our Supporters, Volunteers, Advisors and Management Team. They continue to make the difference !! That they do so is testimony to their continued commitment to conserving near shore fish stocks, their environment and helping ensure ‘Fish for the Future’. We hope the following will give you [...]
Great news for Scotland’s sharks. Tope, as the commercial sector are now prohibited from catching them, join common skate and porbeagle in having the highest levels of protection in Scottish waters. In a previous post we reported that the Scottish Government was looking to increase the protection of 26 species of Scottish sharks. The necessary [...]
Today the European parliament voted in favour of completely closing the loopholes in the EU shark finning ban: more than that they voted by an overwhelming majority of 566:47. This excellent news comes after some uncertainty regarding the issue due to opposition by some member states. This vote means that commercial vessels would be required [...]
This past weekend saw SSACN hold its 4th annual skate angling event in the Sound of Jura, Argyll on the west coast of Scotland attracting anglers from all over the country to pursue the magnificent common skate. In this post-event report we will aim to give a rundown of the event and pick out some [...]
The Skate Event Gallery is being updated on a daily basis. Though conditions haven’t been as favourable as they could be a number of fish around and above the 200lb mark have been caught.
Our SSTP project coordinator, Lewis, gave a talk at the Logan Botanic Gardens covering topics including Scottish sharks, the tagging programme and threats to sharks worldwide. The talk was very well attended and the SSTP would like to thank everyone involved for coming along and getting involved. We hope you all enjoyed the presentation and [...]
Marine Scotland have launched an ebook version (ePUB format) of Scotland’s Marine Atlas which was published earlier this year in hard copy. NB:: This is a large download – anywhere between 54MB and 134MB dependent on device/format. It can be downloaded here and is suitable for most tablet devices; if you want to look at [...]
Now available for download from the Reading Room Thanks to Jamie and Bad Panda Graphics. Feel free to download, print out and hand around. .
Over the past few years the SSTP has worked alongside the Scottish Association of Marine Science (SAMS) to incorporate events into our annual Spurdog Tagathon which allow non-anglers or inexperienced to get involved and try the sport first hand. SAMS is based at Dunstaffnage near the mouth of Loch Etive making it the perfect venue [...]
Conditions for day two saw strong southerly winds coming up the Sound of Jura causing lumpy conditions for the boats …. Fishing was slow with only 3 Skate caught. Biggest of the day was a 199lb female for Craig Little on Trailblazer … Jason Nicol on Tarton Spartan managed creditable female of 171lb and Alex [...]
Summary of day one .. What a change in the weather it was for day one of the 2013 SSACN Skate Recapture event in the Crinan area …. Fishing was a bit slow for a while but both On Yer Marks boats managed an early fish with the best at 202lb. Fishing picked up for [...]
Male spurdog are well known to be smaller than the females. Analysis of our tagging data also shows that whilst the weights of female spurdog are quite normally distributed, the distribution of male spurdog weights is skewed somewhat. It also shows the average weight for a male spurdog is 8lb and 10lb for a female [...]
A basking shark tagging and tracking project is to be extended for another year. Last year, eight sharks were satellite tagged off Scotland’s west coast and their travels could be followed online. One of the sharks was tracked to the west coast of Portugal and another swam 1,864 miles (3,000km) to the Canary Islands off [...]
New Zealand scientists are baffled by the 13,300km migration of a mako shark tagged in a landmark study. The shark, a 1.8-metre mako named Carol, has been tracked by Niwa scientists using a satellite tagging device. The tag was attached to Carol in the Bay of Islands six months ago. The tag has provided the [...]
An incredible 3,000-mile journey by a basking shark has forced scientists to rethink their theories on the rare species. Until now, it was thought that basking sharks were only found in temperate waters, but when a five-metre female — named Banba and tagged off Malin Head — was found to have travelled to the western [...]
Sea anglers know that the Irish Sea around the Rhins of Galloway (an ever popular sea angling destination) is always capable of throwing up the odd surprise, but we think it’s safe to say that nobody could have predicted the events of the past weekend. The action started on Friday when a break in the [...]
Assessment of Common Skate tagging data has revealed another remarkable tag and recapture story. A female skate originally tagged in 1992 was recaptured this year just weeks short of 20 years at liberty! She was originally captured and tagged west of the Isle of Mull, she was then recaptured a staggering 7,251 (19 years, 10 [...]
Scotland’s natural environment is not only a major contributor to Scotland’s economic growth in terms of our ability to engage visitors and produce world class produce and products but it also plays an important part in our quality of life. But in recognising this, politicians must ensure marine and coastal environments that are clean, healthy, [...]
Fishermen are to be trained to identify different shark species in a project that aims to help protect stocks. Fishing representatives in Lancashire, the North East, Yorkshire, Cumbria and North East Lincolnshire are to receive guides to help classify species at sea. The scheme, run by the Co-operative, the Shark Trust and commercial fishing industry, [...]
In a recent news story, the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) expressed their view that zero TACs have no place in fisheries management except in a single species fishery in urgent need of dramatic remedial action. Focussing on spurdog and porbeagle the NFFO feel that the purpose of zero TACs for them seems to [...]
EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki said Thursday that a total ban on fishing endangered deep-water shark species would be maintained for another two years. After talks with fisheries ministers, Commissioner Damanaki stated "I would like to underline that on [these] sharks we keep the zero-fishing proposal," Catch allowances have been at zero for the last [...]
The New York state Senate voted unanimously on Tuesday to outlaw the shark fin trade. The bill now heads to the Assembly, which passed the same measure last year, only to have it die in the Senate without a vote. Read more here
A factory rooftop in Hong Kong covered in thousands of freshly sliced shark fins. The southern Chinese city is one of the world’s biggest markets for shark fins, the photo shows an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 fins being laid to dry on the rooftop ahead of an anticipated surge in demand over Lunar New Year [...]
Closing Date extended to 20th Jan. The Angling Trust are inviting sea anglers to take part in a vital research project into how they value the UK’s marine environment. They would be grateful if you would take the time to complete the survey by clicking HERE What’s It All About? Working with the University of [...]
Earlier in the year, the Environment Agency Fisheries Team working with the Angling Trust undertook a National Angling Survey. Over 29,000 anglers and 780 angling organisations replied, making this one of the biggest ever surveys of anglers. As well as giving views on various issues affecting angling, respondents also helped with the creation of a [...]
The Glasgow Angling Centre Weekend was a great success. Thanks to all of you who stopped by, had a chat, made a donation, took out membership etc – your contributions are really appreciated. Special words of thanks naturally go out to all the staff at GAC for their tremendous help and assistance and to Jim [...]
A glow-in-the-dark shark scares off predators with “lightsaber-like” spines on its back, a study suggests. The research was carried out on the velvet belly lanternshark, a small species found in the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The scientists believe that while the light-up spines can be seen by larger, potentially dangerous [...]
The University of Aberdeen has received the financial backing from Scottish Enterprise and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to develop man-made proteins closely related to structures found in sharks. Structures called variable novel antigen receptors (VNARs) are found in the shark immune system and the team has produced more than 10bn of these [...]
Please leave the tag in the fish - take a note of the 5 or 6 figure unique number on tag which so we may match it with information stored on the database.
Please keep the fish in water as much as possible.
The tag may be covered in growth but careful rubbing will clean the tag up. If possible please measure the wingspan/girth and the length, check the sex and don’t forget report all the details here.
Click on the image below to view the trailer.
The SSTP is a project of the the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network. http://www.ssacn.org
Dumfries and Galloway Leader Programme
and Scottish Natural Heritage
