Sharkatag finds fewer tope and more smoothies

Around 200 sea anglers from all over the UK descended on the Solway over the weekend of 18th-20th June to fish from the shore, kayaks and boats in an attempt to catch, tag and release as many shark species as possible.

This was Sharkatag 2010, an annual, non-competitive event run by the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) attracting anglers from total novices to those who have represented Scotland as Internationals.

Though the number of anglers was on a par with last year, the weather caused some problems, so many of the boats opted to stay inshore. This took down the number of fish tagged to about 20% fewer than last year.

The current state of play in results from Sharkatag, with some cards still outstanding, is :

• Tope landed 136. Tagged 97
• Bullhuss landed 90. Tagged 39
• Spurdog landed 28. Tagged 11
• Thornback rays landed 64. Tagged 10
• Smoothounds landed 286. Tagged 17

Steve Bastiman from SSACN says: ‘A quick analysis indicates that tope just haven’t arrived in their usual numbers, whether this is due to a change in the migration pattern of the mackerel, or some other cause, is open to question at the moment. It also shows smoothhound stocks are increasing’.

Tope feed on mackerel an the past few years have seen changes in mackerel migration patterns. This has led to Iceland and the Faeroes establishing mackerel fisheries where they have previously had none. These changes may or may not relate to a change on tope migrations. SSACN are working to raise funds to establish a research programme.

When all returns from the 2010 event have been collated, SSACN will create and circulate the annual Sharkatag report.

Ian Burrett, SSACN’s Projects Director says: ‘It comes as a surprise to many but several species of shark in Scottish waters are as equally threatened with extinction as are the Panda or Siberian Tiger.

‘SSACN’s tagging programmes gather valuable data which will provide the Scottish Government with some of the necessary research-based evidence to identify proactive opportunities to regenerate stocks and support sea angling’.

Sharkatag has two main objectives:

• to highlight the urgent need for shark, ray and skate conservation in Scottish waters
• to raise the public awareness of sea angling and its contribution to the economies of many coastal communities.

For example, this year’s Sharkatag will have created a direct economic benefit to the local community of somewhere close to £50,000.

In total, sea angling supports around 35,000 jobs and contributes more than £140 million per annum to the Scottish economy.

Scotland was once a premier European sea angling destination. SSACN feels strongly that it could be so again if the sea angling sector was treated on a par with the commercial sectors; and if the species of fish of interest to anglers were managed to deliver more and bigger fish to the recreational sector.

Although stocks in The Solway are in decline, it is one of the few areas which still has reasonable quantities and Sharkatag shows what can be done where the angling opportunities still exist.

SSACN is a very focused organisation whose credibility is rightly high.

It has fought the case successfully for government recognition of the economic importance of sea angling and, by its own efforts, it has collected data over the years on the numbers of the different shark and ray species in Scottish waters – to the point where the importance of such records is now absolutely accepted.

After last year’s breakthough, TV and radio channels gave the event good coverage, with the BBC running a reprise of last year’s Sharkatag on Breakfast TV.  CBBC Newsround came along and did a segment. Border STV did a 2 1/2 minute clip on its news programme. And Sharkatag was featured on the BBC TV’s online home page.

Argyll next

Next up is the Tagathon – the winter version of Sharkatag, taking palce in Loch Sunart and Loch Etive on 13th and 14th November 2010. Details are on the SSACN website.

The photographs accompanying this article show:

• two young participants with a tope
• Willie Kennedy and a fine tope
• Two smoothies – Brian Burn (L) and Stuart Creswell (R) with a smoothhound each
• BBC / CBBC came up and did a feature on Sharkatag – the presenterwiht the children is Leah