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 [...]

In 2002, parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – which included most nations on the planet agreed on a target to stem the loss of biodiversity by 2010. There are still more than six months to go before that deadline officially expires – but nationally, regionally and globally, the results are not good [...]

Pelamid considers the issues associated with catching fish them in a manner that minimises the chances of the fish being overly stressed, or physically damaged. He uses cod, pollack and bass – three of the favourite fish the Scottish sea angler. Most sea anglers fish for enjoyment and often release some, or all, of their [...]

SSACN’s Lauren Smith is currently taking a sabbatical in the Philippines and her activities are being regularly reported on the SSTP site at http://www.tagsharks.com/lol-lauren-on-location. In her latest mail she has taken time out from her normal shark based activities to talk with Helen King and find out about the Marine Protected Areas that have been [...]

With the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 now in place, the Scottish Government is now in the business of implementing the act. The Government’s Marine Protected Area (MPA) Guidelines and Marine Nature Conservation Strategy are out for consultation at the moment, both with a deadline of June 4th.  SSACN will of course be responding to these [...]

Pelamid finds a great weather forecast too hard to resist and reports on an early season trip to Oban to fish for pollack taking along James Thorburn for his first experience of these hard fighting fish. Pollack fishing around the Firth of Lorne is in quite shallow water over reefs and rock points. Generally the [...]

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, [...]

In an article regarding the fishing industry voicing concerns at the EU about imported fish products article (see here), a key issue facing any reform of the EU Fisheries Policy was also identified as being ‘what is to be done to reduce the amount of "by-catch" – namely fish caught and then thrown back into [...]

SSACN are pleased to welcome Angling For Youth Development (AFYD) as our latest Corporate Member. AFYD is a charity registered in Scotland with the purpose of offering people of all backgrounds and abilities the opportunity to participate in the sport of angling, thereby improving their quality of life. Its patrons include Professor David Bellamy OBE [...]