Tracking Scotland's Sharks

See his presentation on this link.  https://youtu.be/Y9XvMyP0pZE

Dr Thorburn has worked with sharks, skates and rays for the past 10 years.  He has tracked their movements around the coast of Scotland.

22nd April 2020 is the 70th anniversary of Earth Day

The Rotary Club of St Andrews continued its programme of speakers by enjoying a virtual presentation by Research Fellow, James Thorburn of the University of St Andrews ( Getty Marine Laboratory), now The Scottish Oceans Institute.
Rotarian George Finley had originally suggested that we should have such a speaker for Wednesday 22nd April as it was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

In their magnificent new premises at the East Sands, which has increased the Institutes standing worldwide, James explained how he and his team are responsible for tracking and supporting Scotland’s population of sharks, skates and rays, of which there are over 1500 worldwide and more than 60 in Scottish waters, the basking shark probably being the best known.

Whilst tracking shark populations and their movement around the world’s oceans and seas is a key aspect of the teams work, monitoring their behaviour, particularly in relation to reproduction is vital, in a less secure world, due to fishing and changing sea temperatures.

This latter work has been helped enormously by the Scottish Governments establishment of a large Marine Protection Area for the Flapper skate, off the coasts of Mull and Jura in the Inner Hebrides. This allows for very accurate tracking over the cyclical changes of the year and for the movement of the adults, as they leave and often return to the same breeding areas.

The work of the Institute is shared with the Scottish Government and is important in helping to preserve this fascinating species in our seas and oceans.

President John Christie thanked James for his very informative video presentation and hoped that he could find time to come in person to a club meeting in the near future.President John Christie thanked Dr Thornburn and conducted club news and business online as he would have done at our weekly lunch meeting