Ireland’s leading maritime newspaper covering the Coastal, Fishing and Maritime Communities

MARINE TIMES NEWS February 5th:
First Rare White Skate Egg Case sighting of 2026

An EGG-CITING Discovery in Furbo, Co Galway. Galway Atlantaquaria is delighted with the first discovery of a very rare White Skate (Rostroraja alba) egg case by Sandlarks, Clean Coasts volunteers who were cleaning the shoreline of marine litter in Furbo Co. Galway.

White Skate (Rostroraja alba) by SANDLARKS

Garry Kendellen, marketing of Galway Atlantaquaria, said “We believe this discovery is really amazing, as we have very little records of these egg cases along our shore. This is why we encourage everyone to become ocean stewards of the shore and get involved in campaigns like Explore Your Shore from the national biodiversity data centre, and Clean Coasts.”

White Skate (R. alba) is included on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as “Endangered” globally and “Critically Endangered” in the North-East Atlantic (Dulvy et al. 2006). This is a large, long-lived coastal, shelf and upper slope species with a low reproductive rate. Its age and very large size at maturity means that all size classes are vulnerable to capture in demersal fisheries. Mortality of the large juveniles is high for many years before they reach maturity. Recovery of populations will be extremely slow even if fishing pressures are lifted.

The key threats to this species are, Fisheries mortality:By-catch in commercial fisheries, Target fishing (if occurring – primarily sport angling and possibly obtaining specimens for aquaria), and Habitat deterioration (secondary threat).

This is a very important discovery as Galway Bay seems to be a host of other critically endangered Skates egg cases like the Flapper Skate, (Dipturus intermedia).

Flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius)

In March of 2025, Dr Róisín Nash from ATU Galway and Michael Bell of Nature Learn discovered more Flapper eggcases in the same month. These were the first recorded eggcase of 2025, and we are delighted for Sandlarks to be the first egg case recorders of 2026.

There is no doubt that this discovery will excite members of the public, academics and researchers as they will be encouraged to explore the shore and learn more about the wonderful discoveries that can be found all along our coasts.

Amelia Walker, of Sandlarks, said, “We found the distinctive large, tough leathery pouch of the White Skate egg case during a beach clean between Furbo and Spideal. We have previously discovered Flapper egg cases in the area before, but this was the first example of the critically endangered White Skate that we have come across.“

As Clean Coasts volunteers, it is always good practice to explore, discover and remove marine litter from our shores.

A collection of Marine litter collected by Sandlarks

Sandlarks is a Clean Coast volunteer group based in Galway, founded by Ultan McManus and Amelia Walker. They organise beach cleans and coastal discovery days from Galway City to Connemara. As previous ambassadors for the Galway Atlantaquaria, they are actively involved in citizen science, 'I Like Beaches' Sand Dune conservation, and Explore Your Shore. Sandlarks can be found on Instagram at @sandlarks

The Flapper Skate (Dipturus intermedius) is a large (to at least 254 cm total length) skate that was once an abundant constituent of the demersal fish community of northwestern Europe. It occurs from Scandinavia to the Celtic Sea, possibly extending as far north as Iceland, at depths of 20–1,500 m but the southern limits of the distribution are uncertain. The range has contracted from most inshore areas of its former distribution, but it is still caught in Scottish waters, especially around the Shetland and Orkney Islands and off northwest Scotland, and in very low numbers along the shelf edge and occasionally in the Celtic Sea. The species is targeted and caught as bycatch of multispecies trawl and tangle net fisheries, which cover much of its shelf and upper slope habitat. Fisheries data indicate that populations of D. batis-complex (Flapper Skate and Common Blue Skate (D. batis); known as the 'common skate complex') underwent an extremely high level of depletion in the central part of their range around the British Isles and

Ireland since the early 20th century (within the suspected three generation period of 104 years). Fishing capacity and effort increased substantially over the later half of the 20th century. Accurate international species-specific landings data are lacking, although reported Icelandic landings of the 'common skate complex' have declined and current information showing low relative catch rates infer low population sizes. The life history and demography of this species allow little capacity to withstand exploitation by fisheries; its large body size renders it catchable by fishing gears even from birth. This has been a prohibited species since 2009 in parts of its range and cannot be landed in European Union or United Kingdom waters. Prior to 2009, there was an inferred steep decline of the Flapper Skate in fisheries landings and an observed, but unquantified, reduction in geographic range size. It is suspected that the Flapper Skate has undergone a population reduction of >80% over the past three generation lengths (104 years) due to levels of exploitation and range reduction, and it is assessed as Critically Endangered.

Ireland was one of the 172 Contracting Parties to sign up to the Convention on Wetlands in 1971in Iran which is since called the Ramsar Convention. This intergovernmental treaty embodies the commitments of its member countries to maintain the ecological character of their Wetlands of International Importance and to plan for the “wise use”, or sustainable use, of all of the wetlands in their territories.”

It also provides a clear definition of what is considered a wetland. It tells us that wetlands come in many forms: temporary or permanent, inland or coastal. Natural wetlands include lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas, tidal flats, coastal areas including mangroves and even coral reefs. Did you know that human-made ponds (aquaculture, water storage, treatment, or decoration), rice paddies, reservoirs and saltplains are also considered as wetlands?

Did you know that the Inner Galway Bay is one of 45 Ramsar sites in Ireland?

Release courtesy www.nationalaquarium.ie

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