Anglers support Scottish Shark Tagging ProgrammeNovember 14th and 15th
Some very hardy Scottish sea anglers will be converging on Lochs Sunart, Etive and surrounding waters for the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network’s (SSACN – http://www.ssacn.org) annual Tagathon event to gather data to help protect endangered shark species as well as raise the public awareness of the issues.
The anglers taking part in Tagathon2009 will be fishing from the shore, kayaks and boats and the prime targets will be common skate and spurdog.
Common skate are on the ‘red lists’ of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Scottish biodiversity action plan; Spurdog used to be found in huge shoals all round Scotland but overexploitation has reduced stocks to 5% of their original numbers.
Ian Burrett, Vice Chairman of the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) “Spurdog are normally a migratory fish that swim hundreds of miles in their migration routes. It appears from anecdotal evidence and anglers catches that these areas have a unique resident population of spurdog which remain in the area all the year round. Evidence already gathered confirms the spurdog give birth to live young in the region.”
SSACN have repeatedly asked the Scottish government to protect both species from excessive commercial exploitation in this special area. Their position has always been that they need hard, scientific evidence before committing to any action plan. As the government has not taken any steps to gather that data, SSACN has introduced the Scottish Shark Tagging Programmeâ€
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