Angling for Sustainability focuses on four of the regions most important species for recreational fishing: undulate ray, tope, starry smooth-hound and black bream. Although we know some of these species make long migrations, it is not known when they leave or where they go. To inform the sustainable management of these species, the project team will fit fish with acoustic tags so that their movements can be tracked using a network of receivers. We have deployed receivers in Dorset and the Solent, which form part of the Fish Intel Network of receivers managed by our team. Understanding the species movements will give insights into their ecology and interactions with anglers. For example, we can discover which areas are important for feeding and breeding, and learn whether there are separate populations within the Channel. Where we see elasmobranchs and black bream in the same locations, we can gain more information about predator-prey relations.
