MORE than 100 anglers fishing from boat, shore and kayaks took part in the third annual two-day Spurdog Tagathon event in the Argyll area of Scotland earlier this month.

The organisers, Scottish Sea Anglers Conservation Network (SSACN) say the number of fish tagged was down a little this year;  there were many more smaller fish evident.

However, other valuable data was gathered by measuring the length and girth of many catches and taking DNA clippings from their tails.

SSACN’s Project Leader James Thorburn said the data would help to indicate how isolated the spurdog populations were from each other along the west coast of Scotland and maybe further afield.

Around 60 anglers fished Loch Etive while 40 fished Loch Sunart injecting an estimated £28,500 into the local economy.

SSACN’s next event, the Skate Tagathon, will take place 8 – 10 April 2011 around the Crinan area of Argyllshire.