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James Thorburn, shark project officer with the Scottish Sea Anglers Conservation Network, holds up one of the small spurdogs |
DOZENS of anglers descended on lochs Etive and Sunart to take part in a two-day spurdog tagging project.
About 60 people took part on Loch Etive, fishing from boat, shore and kayaks, while another 40 headed to Sunart.
The event was organised by the Scottish Sea Anglers Conservation Network (SSACN), in association with the Scottish Shark Tagging Programme as part of a campaign to protect the species – a type of small shark – and allow its numbers to thrive.
And while plenty of spurdogs were landed, many were too small to be fitted with tags.
However, with a record number of anglers taking part, organisers declared it a success.
SSACN’s Jamie Soons, who spent the weekend at Loch Etive, said: ‘There were a lot of fish landed but many were quite small.
‘However, it is not just about tagging – it is also about raising awareness and to get folk thinking about why we are out tagging in the first place.
‘Unlike competitions, this was a much more social occasion, with many like-minded people getting together to do something to protect the species.’
Some anglers had travelled from as far as the north west of England to sign up for the event, and conditions on Etive were described as excellent for fishing.
Despite the small size of the spurdogs caught during the event, James Thorburn, shark project officer with SSACN, said valuable data could still be collected, even if they were not tagged.
As well as measuring the length and girth of each spurdog, he took clippings from their tails to be used in DNA research.
‘We caught a lot of juveniles and immature females. The data relating to their size will become part of the conservation project.
‘The clippings taken for DNA will be used for population integration work, which gives us an idea of how isolated the spurdog populations are from each other along the west coast of Scotland and maybe further afield.’
The conservation network’s next event will be a three-day tagging campaign on Loch Crinan, mid Argyll, in April next year, and will focus on skate.
For more details on the conservation network’s campaigns, go to www.ssacn.org.
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