Tagathon 2008 write up
By Phill Williams for Boat Fishing Monthly
SCOTTISH SEA ANGLING CONSERVATION NETWORK ‘TAGATHON’
If like me you are between 50 and 60 years of age and have fished for as far back as you can remember, then you almost certainly will have shared in a quality of boat fishing that most people younger than yourself can only dream about. There aren’t many consolations for growing old, but that, along with bus passes and free prescriptions, is one of them. In particular I can remember when spurdog shoals were so vast that you literally had to travel miles to stand a chance of putting a bait in front of anything else. Like plagues of marine locusts, they were the most abundant small shark species in European waters. Even more abundant than lesser spotted dogs appear to be today, and that’s saying something. It just goes to show how quickly yesterdays ‘pest’ can become today’s cherished memory when, like so many other once common fish, and in particular cartilaginous species such as sharks and rays, in the blink of an eye they were all but gone.
Their decline to the point of virtual oblivion was triggered towards the end of the 1980′s when intensive commercial pressure, primarily from long lining, rapidly took them to the very brink of viability. To a point where commercial effort could no longer be offset by commercial value. It actually got to a stage when for many years they completely vanished from the angling scene altogether with not a single fish seen in some parts of the country in for a decade and more. Thankfully, recent times have seen numbers slowly creeping back at a few isolated locations. That however could turn into something of a double edged sword, because normally when comebacks happen, it isn’t long before the commercial boats are looking to write chapter two of the saga. But we aren’t quite back to that sort of level yet. And if anglers can muster enough support amongst parliamentarians both at home and in Brussels, then not only the spurdog, but other endangered species too may not find themselves looking down that particular road again.
This particular chapter in the story revolves around an organisation known as SSACN – the Scottish Sea Anglers Conservation Network. But forget the Scottish tag, because the great irony here is that their efforts have produced more benefits for non Scottish anglers than they have on their own patch. The ban on killing tope in England and Wales in one example. Unfortunately Scottish MP’s will hear nothing of similar protection for Scottish tope. Nor will they consider protection zones for the inappropriately named common skate, which while it is common nowhere in UK waters, is making something of a comeback off Scotland’s west coast, again due to the conservation efforts of sea anglers. This said, when SSACN started bending politicians ears recently with anecdotal evidence of spurdog’s throughout their size range being caught all year round in Lochs Sunart and Etive, plus the Firth of Lorne and Sound of Mull, all of which are physically linked, and suggesting that it be declared a Marine Protection Area (MPA) protected area on the grounds of its having a particularly vulnerable discrete population in need of urgent protection, the ball was very quickly batted back into their court with the sweetener that if they could provide hard evidence to that effect, then the first ever MPA specifically for a cartilaginous species could perhaps become considred.
The quick and indisputable way of coming up with that level of evidence is electronic tagging monitored by a geostationary satellite. But for that you are talking big money (around £25k) which for a voluntary registered charity such as SSACN, for the moment at least, would be out of the question. That however could also be about to change as the Sea Life Centre chain of aquariums dotted around the country has agreed to put collection boxes and fact sheets in many of their most visited centres. This, in conjunction with support from the UK Shark Tagging Programme and Scottish Natural Heritage who are assisting SSACN in exploring funding opportunities for monies to fund a full time PhD post tied into their conservation projects, could actually pave the way to financing the satellite tagging. But first of all, they need to know if the anecdotal evidence is likely to translate into established fact. And for that they decided to set up an angling ‘Tagathon’ weekend spread across Loch’s Sunart and Etive.
Dart tagging is a relatively cheap and cheerful way of generating data. Small plastic tags carrying a personal identifying number and contact details are inserted into the backs of fish which are then released. The drawback is that it is relies entirely on recaptures and the good will of those doing the re-catching which is not always forthcoming as was demonstrated recently when some anglers actually refused to provide tag details of two fish they had caught and unfortunately killed. Another recapture opportunity was also missed when the angler responsible failed to record the tag number because he didn’t know what to do with it. So the dart tagging feed back is going to take time. Possibly a lot of time, particularly if you can only get tags into a small percentage of the fish available to anglers to be caught. On the other hand, if these populations do turn out to be resident and enough anglers are aware of the project, then perhaps data generation might prove a little faster than would otherwise be the case. So dart tagging it was, with every boat and group of shore anglers given a tagging kit and tuition with two basic rules that only fish over 7 pounds were to be tagged, and that any fish, regardless of size, if it appeared to be getting stressed should go back immediately even if that meant without a tag.
In the week prior to the Tagathon, SSACN Vice Chairman Ian Burrett who operates ‘Onyermarks Charters’ down in Luce Bay put a few days in on Loch Sunart looking to generate some up to date marks information to help the event along. A week dogged by very high winds, very low temperatures and snow. Well it is the Scottish Highlands in the winter, so what do expect. But nothing bad enough to keep the boats from going afloat, despite winds gusting in excess of 40 mph. That’s the beauty of fishing a long narrow meandering sea loch which you would be hard pressed to distinguish from a freshwater lake. Other than of course for the fact that not only does it contain marine species, but some pretty damn huge ones at that, some of which in very recent times have individually topped 200 pounds. Not of course the target species of this particular exercise, the Spurdog. Now that would really be something to write home about. Anyway, back in the real world, the fishing did come as close as it is possible to that particular dream when Richard Stanley aboard his own boat ‘Double Trouble’ tagged and released a monster spur of 21¼ pounds which is 2 lbs 6 ounces heavier than the current Scottish record. But we are getting ahead of ourselves a little here with the story. So its back to day break on a cold, wet and blustery Saturday morning in November at Resipole with the ‘Tagathon’ event about to kick off.
Besides having 85 anglers spread across twelve private dinghies, two self drive dinghies, two charter boats, two paddle powered one man kayaks and in groups dotted around the shores of Loch’s Sunart and Etive, jumping in with myself and Ian aboard ‘Onyermarks’ were Dr. Jane Dodds of Scottish Natural Heritage, Helen Earwaker from Southampton University who is charged with collating and analysing the data, and Gordon Mack from The Herald and Sunday Herald. Dr. Ken Collins from the UK Shark Tagging Programme was also in attendance. Shaun Cumming from TSF and Adam Riach from the World Sea Fishing were also present. So all the big guns were there. And who can blame them when organisations of the status of the International Union For The Conservation Of Nature have put the spurdog onto their Red List of Threatened Species with the rider that the North East Atlantic population in particular, which includes the UK, is Critically Endangered. In addition to this, the International Council For The Exploration Of The Sea has urged EU fishery scientists to set a zero catch limit for the species. That’s how grave the poor old spurdog’s plight has become. And all because of indefensible blatant commercial greed.
So out we all headed. In most cases that was no more than a couple hundred yards off into the deep water just in front of Resipole slip. A few more adventurous soles headed down into Laga Bay where the self-drives would be doing their bit. Neither of the two girls on board had ever fished before. But that was soon to change, particularly for Helen who besides getting into a couple of tagable spurs, also brought up one of the smallest common skate any of us had ever seen. It wasn’t weighted, but there is no way that it would have reached double figures. And that wasn’t the only skate. In the exploratory run up to the event, ‘Onyermarks’ had seen several others, mainly going between 40 and 60 pounds with one that might just have made the ton. And it seems that the deeper you go inside Sunart, the smaller the common skate become, which could be one more reason why having it declared an MPA allowing recreational fishing with clear conservation aims is so important. Don’t however run away with the idea that Sunart just supports immature fish, because this is far from being the case. Other big spurs up to 17 pounds were also caught. But top honours in terms of angling feat must go to Paul Spooner who paddled his kayak just a few hundred yards out from Laga Bay and was rewarded with a common skate of 137 pounds. Beat that.
The fishing wasn’t particularly hampered on the Saturday by conditions, though the cold, the wind and intermittent heavy rain certainly didn’t help and were cited as something of a ‘discouraging’ factor. But not so on the Sunday with the wind and rain both gone. It was anticipated that tagged fish numbers would be higher than on the previous day. That however for some unknown reason proved not to be the case. Fewer fish generally never mind specimens of tagable size put in an appearance, and while reasonable numbers of smaller fish were still caught, only three spurs above the 7 pound tagging threshold put in a show. Having said that, Billy Finlay fishing from his own boat ‘Nemesis’ nipped back out for a two hour evening session after dark and managed to put tags into four more fish which to some extent this ties in nicely with what the shore lads had been saying and doing. They tend to fish mainly after dark when the spurs not only move to within casting range, but also feed more heavily as evidenced by 54 fish tagged from the shore in the run up to the main boating event. So the fish were most certainly still there. Its just that for whatever reason they were not interested in feeding. The same was true of the common skate, though the other side of the coin was that thornback’s and conger were happy to continue with business as usual.
Despite the fact that only 24 mature spurdog’s were tagged, the ‘Tagathon’ was still a resounding success on many fronts. Eighty five anglers willing to give up their time at great personal expense should tell the politicians a thing or two. Around 320 spurdog’s caught also has to be good news. On the other hand, with almost 300 of them coming it at under the 7 pound threshold, it also shows that in terms of come back there is still some way to go. After the almost total obliteration of the Loch Etive population some years ago, anglers have been seeing a steady increase in regeneration numbers with a year on year size increase of around a pound or so in weight. This in itself lends weight to the resident population theory. Had mature fish wandered in and out of both lochs at will, then more would have showed in the aftermath of the carnage. The few that are there must have been missed. Not even the commercials are going to get every last one. Richard Stanley’s fish that topped the current Scottish record is also encouraging in that it shows what Sunart can achieve and will hopefully encourage more anglers to visit, hopefully with dart tagging kits from SSACN. What the ultimate achievement will turn out to be is anybodies guess. Lets hope it gives some support to the resident population theory which in turns takes the project through to phase two, satellite tracking, and finally MPA status with angling access. So lets start to get a little more vocal, particularly anglers living north of the border who can remind their local MSP’s just who it was that put them there and that votes, regardless of party allegiances, cannot always be taken for granted.
Before winding up, I would like to take this opportunity to jump on to my own soap box and say something regarding Richard Stanley’s 21¼ pound spurdog. I don’t know Richard’s views on the subject of fish recording. Perhaps I should have taken the time to ask him. What I do know is that to many sea anglers, particularly those fishing for the various species of sharks and rays, national records in their current form are both an irrelevance and a farce. Everyone knows that the current British and Scottish records for the tope, the common skate, and for the spurdog do not represent the pinnacle of what angling for those species can achieve. They are not even second bests. The tope record in particular has been over shadowed on many occasions. Yet those dinosaurs of the BRFC etc continue on with heads buried very firmly in the sand. Surely the time has come for these dyed in the wool remnants of a bygone era to be swept aside and replaced by some 21st century thinkers. When will they get the message that anglers are no longer willing to kill fish simply to see their names on some currently meaningless list. True, the BRFC do not say that potential records have to be killed. But in the real world, how else can you get a big tope or a skate caught many miles from base onto a set of land based scales to satisfy their requirement for accurate weighing. If there is a way, then let’s be hearing it. Otherwise, allow record status to be awarded on the basis of witnessed measurements fed into a scientifically produced weight estimation table, or using a points system by multiplying length by girth or width at the widest point. Yes, it won’t be quite as accurate as weighing. But who cares. It’s an alternative representation of bulk in the same way that weight is and the same for everybody, with the real victim in all of this, the fish getting to keep its life.
FACT FILE
Ronnie Campbell (Loch Etive & Oban area charters) Tel. 01631 750213
Andy Jackson boat charter and Loch Sunart self drives Tel. 01972 500 208
Ian Burrett Onyermarks Charters www.onyermarks.co.uk
Resipole caravan site, chalets and launching slip www.resipole.co.uk
UK Shark Tagging Programme www.ukshark.co.uk
The Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) www.ssacn.org
ENDS
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