More than 100 eggs of a critically endangered fish have been found by divers off northwest Scotland, prompting calls for a ban on trawling and dredging in the area to protect them.
The site in the Inner Sound, separating Skye from the mainland, is one of the largest known nursery areas of the flapper skate, which has disappeared from most of its range and was declared critically endangered in 2006.
Bottom trawling, in which weighted nets are dragged along the seabed, and scallop dredging have devastated the slow-growing fish, which can be as long as 2.5 metres (8.2ft).
Ban trawling to save endangered fish, divers urge | Scotland | The Times
The site in the Inner Sound, separating Skye from the mainland, is one of the largest known nursery areas of the flapper skate, which has disappeared from most of its range and was declared critically endangered in 2006.
Bottom trawling, in which weighted nets are dragged along the seabed, and scallop dredging have devastated the slow-growing fish, which can be as long as 2.5 metres (8.2ft).
Ban trawling to save endangered fish, divers urge | Scotland | The Times