Follow on to skate meeting

SSACN meeting at SeaLife Loch Lomond

Monday 9th March 2009

Present Part 1; Ian Burrett,Jane Dodd,Denis Kelly,Mark Hind,Richard Sutcliffe, James Thorburn,

Ken Collins, Chris Leakey, Vikki Wearmouth, Jayne Campbell, Sarah Cunningham.

Present Part 2: Andrew Keltie, Ian Burrett, Alan Page, Jane Dodd, Willie Kennedy, Stuart Cresswell
Denis Kelly, Mark Hind, Tom Jackson, Davy Holt, Richard Sutcliffe, James Thorburn,
Ken Collins, Chris Leakey, Vikki Wearmouth, Jayne Campbell, Sarah Cunningham, Jamie Soons,
Dermot Kavanagh, Colin Faulkner, Steve Bastiman.

It was agreed that no formal minute of the meeting would be made, and the following is a summary of the meeting in general terms.

In the first part of the meeting the group present discussed the Proposed project involving SSACN/SNH/FRS and Glasgow university.

Jane Dodd was confident that the outline applications for funding had the support of the senior management of SNH.

The second part of the meeting began with James Thorburn Presenting a summary of His MSc. Project “Ecology of the Common Skate” a 92 page document which can be viewed here.

Viki Wearmouth supplemented Jamie’s presentation by outlining the work carried out with David Sims in the same areas around the Sound of Mull in relation to Skate tagging.

These two presentations drew a number of questions from the anglers and taggers present and some who have a lengthy record of tagging were indeed surprised at the graphic evidence of the movement of Skate in their own tagging areas.

Steve Bastiman & Ian Burrett provided the group with an update on the proposed future work on Common Skate, Spurdog & Tope.

There followed a general discussion of these projects and the consensus was that all were enthusiastically in favour of these going ahead.

Colin Faulkner gave an overview f the Scottish Marine Directorates position on the conservation of shark species in Scotland in relation to the CPOA which was agree on 23 April 2009 by the European Council.

The group was agreed that the partnership with the scientific bodies was the way forward and the right route to take, and that a dedicated Scottish Shark Tagging Programme would benefit both the shark species and participating anglers.

The aim to keep taggers and captors well informed of their efforts was welcomed.

Meeting closed with thanks given to SeaLife staff for facilities and refreshments provided.

Category: SSACN Announcements