Bressay monk heads all the way to Lofoten

A MONKFISH that was tagged and released close to Bressay on 28th August 2001 has been recaptured nearly seven years to the day later.

The much-travelled fish was caught some 732 miles away in waters near to the Lofoten Islands in the north of Norway.

The monkfish, which measured 29cm when it was released, now weighs 8.5kg. At this weight it will measure around 85cm in length, giving an average growth of around 8cm per year.

NAFC Marine Centre fisheries biologist Chevonne Laurenson undertook the tagging study.

Dr Laurenson said: “I am delighted to have been contacted with news of this latest recapture and I’m surprised that these tagged fish are still turning up.

“We also had a recapture from Norway in April this year at 66°N and one in 2006 at 62°N. Our tagged monkfish have also been found as far away as Faroe and Iceland.

“When we started this work no one would have believed that these fish could travel so far and this shows that there is a much higher degree of mixing in stock than previously realised.”