Over the weekend of November 15/16, the conservation charity, the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN – http://www.ssacn.org) are holding a spurdog tagging event in Lochs Sunart and Etive with 60+ anglers taking part.

The anglers will be split into teams of 2 to 4 and will be fishing from 15 boats and the shores of the lochs. Each team will have a leader experienced in handling and tagging spurdog and who will working to an approved set of guidelines – http://www.ssacn.org/spurdog/best-practice/.

According to Ian Burrett, SSACN’s Project Director ” Spurdog are considered Critically Endangered in the North-east Atlantic by the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) and WWF have placed them on their top ten list as species most likely to face extinction – alongside species like Giant Panda, Siberian tigers etc. “

“Even though Scottish spurdog are at 5% of their original biomass, Cabinet Secretary Lochhead and the Marine Directorate still require further evidence through field based research before they are willing to take any action to protect them – the only way to meet their evidential needs is by tagging.”

SSACN’s Tagging Project Coordinator, Davie Murray continued ” Evidence from many anglers suggests that these Lochs and their surrounding waters have resident populations which breed in the region; our programme is therefore aimed at gathering the data necessary to provide estimates of fish movements and whether or not there is a resident population of breeding spurdog. The data we collect will be collated and analysed by the UK Shark Tagging Programme. “

Sea Life, http://www.sealife.co.uk/local/index.php?loc=lochlomond, are supporting the project by providing notice boards highlighting the Spurdog Tagging programme in twelve of their centres which will enable the many thousands of people visit every week to understand the issues and support the efforts of SSACN through collection boxes.

Spurdog also provide an economic benefit to these areas as anglers generally seek them outside of the normal tourist season and as anglers typically return any spurdog they catch, with suitable protection, the fishery would be totally sustainable, have minimal environmental impact and offer a ‘Best Value’ solution.

Fisheries minister Lochhead constantly proclaims the government is focused on protecting the marine environment, SSACN believes he could provide real leadership and support sea angling by excluding further commercial exploitation of spurdog in these lochs. This would not only provide a springboard for the regeneration of spurdog, but as an additional benefit, it would also help protect the local Common Skate populations which are equally threatened.