25 September, 2008

A MONKFISH tagged and released in Shetland's inshore waters seven years ago has been recaptured 732 miles away close to the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway.

The monkfish, which measured 29cm when it was released, now weighs 8.5 kilos.

Dr Chevonne Laurenson, a fisheries biologist at Shetland’s NAFC Marine Centre, who specialises on monkfish research, said she was surprised that fish were still being caught so long after their original tagging.

"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,” Ms Laurenson said.

"We also had a recapture from Norway in April this year at 66 degrees north and one in 2006 at 62 degrees north. 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."