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Another shark’s tale…
02.07.10
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Joe hooks and releases
5ft tope
A Moville angler hooked a five-foot shark last week
and promptly released it back into Lough Foyle.
Joe Doherty said he was stunned when he baited the
large tope but soon realised the fish was on the
endangered species list.
“We were fishing for skate on Thursday evening
around 200 metres off the shore in Moville when I
hooked the tope,” said Joe.
“It has been 25 to 30 years since anglers used to
fish for these in the Foyle. I remember dozens and
dozens being dumped every week on Moville Quay,
after being taken in from the Moville Sea Angling
Festival back in the early 80’s. |
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“They were just killed
to be weighed for competition results, and then
thrown away as waste because nobody ate them. But
they are now officially on the endangered species
list,” he added.
The local man said Lough Swilly is also known for
competition tope fishing and he hoped Moville could
also attract more angling tourists.
“Maybe if people knew tope can be caught in the
Foyle as well, it might attract tourists of a
fishing nature to our shores too.”
According to
sea-angling-ireland.org, catch and release of
tope is essential for the species’ survival.
They travel huge distances with one tagged tope
found to have migrated a whopping 2,185 nautical
miles. The fish, tagged in Co Kerry, was recaptured
off the coast of Tunisia less than three years after
it had been released.
Meanwhile, the longest period a tagged tope has been
in the wild was 5,538 days, or over 15 years.
This fish was tagged in Donegal Bay in 1982 and
taken by rod and line off the west coast of Scotland
in 1997 before being released again alive. |
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