A ground-breaking study reinforces that flapper skates are beginning to recover in Scotland.

The study involved interviews with commercial fishers about their interactions with flapper skate and their perceptions of changes in numbers in recent years. Fishers reported a significant increase in flapper skate bycatch over the past four years, with over half of those interviewed seeing them daily. Flapper skate bycatch was most frequently reported along the west coast of Scotland, particularly around the Isles of Rum and Skye and in the western waters of Shetland.

A previous study conducted by Marine Directorate Science, Evidence, Data and Digital and published in April 2024, found that the number of flapper skates in the Loch Sunart to the Sound of Jura Marine Protected Area (MPA) are increasing faster than outside the MPA, as a result of higher survival rates for young flapper skates.