Experts celebrate striking return of rare sea creatures after years of absence: 'They're showing up all over'

Populations of Britain's largest endangered fish species are beginning to rebound after sea anglers spearheaded conservation efforts in the area.  

The flapper skate, or common skate, is a member of the shark family once found off coastlines around the world, but now they're usually only seen in the Celtic Sea and off the coast of North-West Scotland, according to the Guardian. 

Flapper Skate in the wild!

The flapper skate is the largest skate in the world! It can reach up to 3m in length with a wingspan of 2m and weigh more than 100kg! It will take Cedric, our baby flapper skate around 10 years to reach this size! Many thanks to Catherine Hollingdale of Dive KLB - North East Dive for her pics and video. #FlapperSkate #Dipturusintermedius #SharkConservation #MacduffMarineAquarium #MorayFirth #LLA #LiveLifeAberdeenshire #RespectProtectEnjoy #VisitScotland #OnlyInScotland

Posted by Macduff Marine Aquarium on Thursday, April 1, 2021

It's a prize catch for the anglers, since they can weigh up to 214 pounds and measure over nine feet long, but these recreational fishers are simply snapping a photo and returning them to the water. 

Hundreds of sea anglers campaigned for a legally mandated marine protected area specifically to protect the fish, the report detailed. Now, their photos are being uploaded to a conservation database powered by artificial intelligence, which helps track the individual fish. 

"The MPA and the conservation has definitely increased their numbers," said Ronnie Campbell, a charter-boat skipper who started his own voluntary no-kill policy for skate years before the European Union banned their capture.

Marine conservationists and sea anglers told the Guardian they believe the population's rebound after years of overfishing is a direct result of the MPA and related efforts in the area.

The online database, known as Skatespotter, is run by the Scottish Association for Marine Science and currently has up to 300 anglers submitting their trophy photographs, while some have been trained to scan identification tags implanted on many of the fish. 

The use of AI has greatly helped researchers cut the backlog of images and now holds records of almost 2,500 individual flapper skates, with 5,000 total images, according to the report.

"We had a backlog of about 250 photographs in Skatespotter that we hadn't matched, and once we got the AI working, we managed to clear that in two weeks," said Dr. Jane Dodd, who's involved in the project.  

Although AI has several environmental downsides, its application in these conservation efforts is clearly beneficial.

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Preserving the planet's biodiversity helps to maintain a healthy and balanced ecosystem, and with the protection of conservationists, the flapper skate could potentially return to more shores around the world. 

A recent study by Dodd and project partner Dr. Steven Benjamins found that in zones across the MPA, catch data has increased by 54% to 92%. 

"They're showing up all over, mostly in Scotland, but I think they're also starting to move down south," Campbell told the Guardian. 

"You can't be wrong returning fish alive; that can never be wrong." 

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