New Year - New hope for the Common skate

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

This is taken from the Shark Trusts Website

 

http://www.sharktrust.org/sharkconservation.html

 

"A review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, is considering (following recommendations from the Shark Trust) the Angel Shark, Common Skate, Black Skate, White Skate and Long-nose Skate for inclusion on Schedule 5 of the Act. All of these large-bodied and slow growing species are in decline around our coasts. If successful, this would make it an offence to intentionally kill, injure or take, possess or trade in these species, effectively protecting them from target fisheries and angling within the 12 nautical mile limits of Scotland, England and Wales.

 

Over the next 12 weeks the review will be put through a public consultation, after which the decision is made whether the five species of shark are to be listed.

 

Although positively supported by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has adopted a neutral position on this matter. Defra’ s stance is surely political as the facts speak clearly in favour of protective status. Over the coming weeks the Trust will be lobbying hard to gain the appropriate protective status for these threatened species.

 

If you are involved in tag and release, or research in any of these species necessitating handling, then you will be able to can obtain a permit from the relevant countryside agency."

 

The next meeting of the Biodiversity Acion Plan is at the end of this month. The role of angling in the conservation of Common Skate is going to be the main topic for discussion thanks to the effort of a few anglers, both in the UK and Northern Ireland.

 

So fingers crossed

[Norrie]

Davy, Absolutely Brilliant news....well done to all concerned. D'you think all those charter boats will bother with Licenses ?????Dont think so, some of them have already told me that they dont have the time to Tag fish.....

[Spur-Hound]

Dont have time, Thats utter tripe. Cant take much longer than a few seconds.

 

Well done on all the hard work all who are concerned, I m sure your efforts will have helped greatly in insuring we have skate to catch in many years to come

[Guest stevie cop]

So Davy, will you only be allowed to catch these Skate if you are involved in tag and release or research?

 

What if they decide, at the end of the day, that no one can catch them? Is that a possibility?

 

Well done anyway, and good luck.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya Steve,

 

"So Davy, will you only be allowed to catch these Skate if you are involved in tag and release or research?"

 

You will need a license to go out and specifically target Common Skate, as part of the terms of this licence you will be required to tag and release the fish and also adhere to the Code of Best Angling Practice. Any charter boats will be able to get a boat licence rather than an individual licence for each angler.

 

"What if they decide, at the end of the day, that no one can catch them? Is that a possibility?"

 

I suppose it is a possibility, but it’s a case if we don’t act now we wont have *any* Common skate in UK waters to fish for. The other good thing on the side of Anglers is that we have had a say in this from day 1 and are well respected for the conservation minded attitude we have towards Common Skate. It also has not went unnoticed that we, the anglers catch more Common skate than all of the research boats put together and unlike the few they catch, our fish go back alive after giving the valuable data required. For these reasons there has been a lot of work put into the wording of the proposal, so that it will not affect the genuine conservation minded angler. It also hasn’t gone unnoticed just how much skate angling brings into local economies.

 

As it stands just now without this protection, all it would take is a concerted effort by a couple of long liners and the UK’s last strong hold for Common skate would be gone in a few weeks… not years… just weeks

 

So really we don’t have much choice, we can build our case with this or have no fish to fish for… I know which one I’m picking.

[Norm B]

Originally posted by Davy Holt:

[QB] Hiya,

 

This is taken from the Shark Trusts Website

 

http://www.sharktrust.org/sharkconservation.html

 

"A review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, is considering (following recommendations from the Shark Trust) the Angel Shark, Common Skate, Black Skate, White Skate and Long-nose Skate for inclusion on Schedule 5 of the Act. All of these large-bodied and slow growing species are in decline around our coasts. If successful, this would make it an offence to intentionally kill, injure or take, possess or trade in these species, effectively protecting them from target fisheries and angling within the 12 nautical mile limits of Scotland, England and Wales.

 

:cool: Great news. All we need now is to re-establish them in their old haunts around the Isle of Wight, protect them and us southerners can have as much fun as you guys north of the border. No doubt the NFSA will send me a press release on this great news in time for the February edition.

[Davy Holt]

Norm B:

No doubt the NFSA will send me a press release on this great news in time for the February edition.

Is that Feb edition 2005 or 2006

[dale]

who is going to issue licenses?

how is this going to be advertised so all the small boaters know?

how much is the license going to cost?

how is it going to be policed?

 

sorry to be a kill joy!

[spanner]

quote:

---

What if they decide, at the end of the day, that no one can catch them?

---

Personally I'd rather that that the fish were there and protected, even if we couldn't fish for them, than wiped out altogether.

 

However, it does sound as though they have every intention of allowing angling to continue.

Excellent news. Well done Davy and everbody else concerned, which includes every angler who took the trouble to participate in tag and release.

[Vagabond]

Great news Davy - we are glad we took the trouble to get involved in the tagging programme, even though we only do so once a year.

 

BTW is Richard still i/c at GU?

 

Dave and Norma