Record skate for Falklands Fishery

Joost Pompert of the Falkland Islands Government Fisheries Department told listeners to the Falkland Islands Radio Station that although the species was a common catch in Chile, it was only occasionally caught around the Falkland Islands - he estimated only fifteen to twenty per month - but the Fisheries Department had never before received an adult specimen. In Chile, where there is a directed fishery for this species, Mr.Pompert thought that skate up to 2 metres in length might not be uncommon, but the largest previously recorded in Falkland Islands waters measured 178 cms. The fish was caught off Sedge Island by the fishing vessel Ferrarlemes.John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley