The flapper skate is the largest of all European skates and rays – and the largest skate in the world. It can reach more than 2.5 metres in length.
Ecologically significant and increasingly popular with recreational anglers, who were key to gathering the evidence to secure their protection in the Loch Sunart to Sound of Jura MPA, the species has suffered long-term population declines. Scottish waters now provide one of the last strongholds for flapper skates in the world.
A 2024 Scottish Government report highlighted the Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura MPA, finding that fishing-gear restrictions introduced in 2016 led to a ‘substantial increase’ in flapper skate numbers.
As this same increase was not seen in neighbouring seas, this is a prime example of how targeted protection from fishing in MPAs can help to restore at-risk mobile species.
Despite this encouraging progress, flapper skate in Scottish seas still face ongoing pressures. Continued protection efforts remain essential to secure their future.
Photo: © Dan Bolt / Marine Conservation Society
Action Needed
- Call for further measures to protect vulnerable inshore habitats, including through fisheries management measures for inshore MPAs and Priority Marine Features.
- Champion the case for further flapper skate MPAs, particularly in areas where they are often found, such as Orkney and Shetland.
- Highlight the need to develop more sustainable fishing techniques to prevent bycatch of flapper skates, and the further rollout of Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) for all fishing vessels to deliver fully documented fishing.
- Encourage the Scottish Government to adopt spatial management of fishing when finalising the Inshore Fisheries Management Improvement Programme (IFMI), which could deliver further protections for species such as the flapper skate.
Threats
- Consumer demand poses a risk to flapper skates, and the species is classified as Critically Endangered, meaning consumers should avoid these fish regardless of where it comes from or how it was caught.
- The large size of flapper skate means they are often caught as bycatch, particularly in trawl nets: Commercial fishing of flapper skate has been illegal since 2009, but they are still at risk from non-selective methods of fishing.
- Flapper skate egg cases – known as Mermaid’s Purses – are also at risk of damage from bottom-towed fishing gear: This is because they are large, immobile and remain on the seabed for many months. This means trawls and dredges can easily crush or destroy entire clusters in a single pass.
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