Common Skate 
Tagging Programme

Introduction

The common skate and tope (now only Common skate) tagging programme was run by the Science Department of Glasgow Museums and had been running for over 30years. The tagging was all done voluntarily, by anglers. If you want want more information on the original tagging programme contact:

Richard Sutcliffe

Research Manager (Natural History)

Glasgow Museums Resource Centre

200 Woodhead Road South Nitshill Industrial Estate Glasgow G53 7NN

Tel: 0141 276 9330 Fax: 0141 276 9305

Tagging off the west of Scotland

Preliminary results of tagging in the Sound of Mull

Preliminary results of tagging Programme Dec 2000  (This is quite a large file.)

Code of Best Practice for Recreational Anglers

To help get the conservation issue with common skate across, a poster was designed by Bill Little and distributed in the areas where the tagging has been taking place.

Common Skate poster

To help solve the problem of trying to weigh a large skate in a small boat, charts were developed, again by Bill Little using data from skate accurately weighed and measured . The charts give weights by measuring the length and wingspan and are accurate to within 5% and have been accepted by the Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers for use on their Specimen Fish awards.

Charts for estimating the weight of Skate in Excel format:

Excel version of weight charts for male & Female - Original version (Most Accurate)

Excel version of weight charts for male & Female - 2003 version (Not accurate on fish over 165lb)