Skate mutilation

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

As I said in the other post Norrie had broke his skate PB twice today, the first fish was this 161lber

 

On closer inspection of the picture you will see two large scars at the head of the fish

 

 

these were clearly inflicted by a knife and the one on the left had cut right through the fish

 

 

it seems we have some sick people out there :mad: :mad:

[SandTiger]

I'm lost for words - I take it you will pass the snaps along to Ali H also?

[SandTiger]

I hope you also send the pix in to BFM, TSF & SA!

 

Disgusting!!

[gonefishing]

could be a net....the cuts are almost at right angles, so it's possible it stuck its nose into the hole of a net at an angle and the lines cut in. In fact there could be a number of sharp rubbish that it could have stuck its nose in to get at something.

 

Can't think of any reason why anyone would want to do that....unless they're idiots of course...but would an idiot ever get up a fish like that?

[Davy Holt]

Hiya GF,

 

Nope the cuts could not have been made by a net, they could only have been made with a very sharp object nd I would say it was very unlikely that the skate caused them it's self. Skate skin is very very tough and it would be just about impossible for it to be accidental injuries.

 

I cant think of any reason why someone would do that but the evidence points to the fact that someone one did

[SandTiger]

If it was a net the cuts would not be in the middle of the flesh around the snout but straight through, I would have thought? The hole on the left doesn't seem to support net damage. I've picked gill nets out of LSD's and it is not the same

 

I agree with what you say about people who target Commons are then hardly likely to mutilate them after putting in all the effort that is required though.

[Norm B]

SandTiger:

I'm lost for words - I take it you will pass the snaps along to Ali H also?

:cool: Fortunately it seems to have healed well but as you say, there are some sick people out there. Perhaps they didn't have a tag and wanted to recognise it if they caught it again. Some people are wierd. :mad:

[SandTiger]

Perhaps they didn't have a brain more like, crying shame

[Cranfield]

Could it have been caused by an "amateurish" attempt to gaff the fish ?

This would be bad enough, but I hate to think of people deliberately mutilating fish for future identification.

 

This was done down in the West Country in the early shark fishing days, before boats carried tags, they use to notch the sharks fins, or tails.

[Vagabond]

Have looked carefully at the pictures and peoples responses, but can't see any rational explanation for those cuts.

 

Perhaps that's the answer - that the people responsible were not rational. :mad: