Are sharks being slaughtered for fish and chips? Shops told to check stock after 60 are found dead off the Isle of Wight

Island resident finds more than 50 severed heads and fins on shore

Shark flesh can be passed off as popular fish species by some dealers

A government agency has now issued guidance to Britain's chip shops

Conservationists also concerned about vulnerable and harmless species 

By RICHARD SPILLETT

PUBLISHED: 12:47, 15 July 2014 | UPDATED: 15:39, 15 July 2014

Fish and chip shops have been told to check their stock for shark meat after the gruesome discovery of scores of carcasses on the Isle of Wight.

A resident of the island was left horrified after stumbling across a mound of severed heads and fins of smooth-hound sharks, which are completely harmless to humans.

After a picture of his shocking find appeared on Facebook, government officials have urged chip shops to ensure they know what they are selling.

Conservationists have called for catch limits on the amount of small-hound sharks that can be landed

Shark meat is often used in pet food and fish meal but can also be passed off as huss or rock salmon, which are sold in takeaways around Britain.

It is thought an unlicensed trawler may have landed the sharks, before their valueless heads and fins were cut off, leaving only the meat.

Kevin Parker, who found the remains of what he estimates at more than 50 of the animals, said local residents had been shocked by what had been found.

He told MailOnline: 'I'm a fisherman myself but everyone I know throws them back alive when they catch them because they are of no real value and are falling in numbers. I think it must have been someone doing it illegally.


Read more:

Skull fragments reveal new ancient crocodile species

Two fossilised skull fragments from a 2ft (60cm) crocodile found on the Isle of Wight point to the discovery of a new ancient species, a study has found.

The pieces - a snout and back part of the skull - were found by different private collectors three months apart.

Experts at the Dinosaur Isle museum near Sandown found the 126 million-year-old fragments "fitted together perfectly to make a complete skull".

The species has been named Koumpiodontosuchus aprosdokiti.

The name - meaning "unexpected button-toothed crocodile" - was given by University of Portsmouth palaeontologist Dr Steve Sweetman, who has published a paper on the discovery in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Continued

Tiny but feisty prehistoric wesserpeton amphibian discovered

A tiny but feisty species of amphibian that lived in the shadows of dinosaurs has been discovered by scientists.

The discovery of the wesserpeton fills a gap in the evolutionary history of a now-extinct group, the albanerpetontids, according to researchers at the University of Portsmouth.

The amphibian, nicknamed "Wessie", was about the size of a small, modern-day newt and unlike most amphibians, albanerpetontids had a scaly skin and eyelids, showing that they spent most of their time on land. Details of the skeleton also suggest that they were well adapted to burrowing.

The creature lived on the Isle of Wight, which has gained the nickname Dinosaur Island because of the number of fossils found there, about 130 million years ago during the early cretaceous period, at the same time as dinosaurs such as neovenator, iguanodon and giant, long-necked sauropods.

Read more

Isle of Wight was 'dinosaur capital' of UK, according to new map

The Isle of Wight was infested by dinosaurs five times longer than buses 125 million years ago - as well as predators with five-inch claws.

The Isle of Wight is a peaceful, picturesque south coast resort these days - but 125 million years ago, it was the 'dinosaur capital' of Britain, infested by terrifying predators and other huge beasts.

The island was home to dinosaurs such as a Sauropod which was five times longer than a double-decker bus and weighed more than 20 elephants.

The number of fossils found there beats even the famous 'Jurassic Coast' in Dorset for fossil finds more than 125 million years old, according to a new Dinosaur Map of Britain compiled by Dr Paul Barrett, from The Natural History Museum.

The island was also infested with razor-toothed predators, Neovenators, a 20-foot-long predator with five-inch claws and two-inch teeth. 

Dr Paul Barrett conducted a report of prehistoric finds over the past 336 years - and found that more than 100 species of dinosaur used to live in the UK, including tiny Echinodons not much bigger than cats.  

In the Isle of Wight, palaeontologists found a neck bone of a Sauropod which weighed roughly 54 tonnes. Remains of Neovenator dinosaurs were also found nearby. 

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/isle-of-wight-was--dinosaur-capital--of-uk--according-to-new-map-142847983.html

Efforts to save rare plant

A TEAM of Environment Agency staff has travelled to the Island to help the Hants and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust restore a rare plant to a pond in local woodland.

Pillwort is a watery fern that thrives on disturbed pond edges and is internationally threatened, but there are hopes it could become well established at Bouldnor Forest, thanks to the work.

Staff tackled willows that were encroaching onto a Pillwort site at Bouldnor and it is hoped more seeds will germinate.

Volunteers at the Bouldnor Forest Centre were also able to view six wildlife ponds created by Hants and IW Wildlife Trust with funding from BIFFA and Pond Conservation.

Toads are already spawning in them and pond skaters can be seen darting about on their surface.

Nicola Wheeler, pond officer for the trust, said: "Children using the centre for forest school activities will have a fantastic new resource to use for pond-dipping in future years."

The six new ponds are part of a larger project that has created 38 new ponds on the Island over the past year.

Many of the new ponds are close to or within Island woodlands such as Parkhurst Forest, Firestone Copse, Bouldnor and Briddlesford.

Nicola added: "Woodlands are an excellent place to create new ponds because they often have clean, unpolluted water — an asset which can enable them to become very high quality wildlife habitats."

All the new ponds will be left to naturally colonise with local wetland plants and Nicola requested that people do not dispose of unwanted garden pond plants in the new woodland ponds.

http://iwcp.co.uk/news/news/efforts-to-save-rare-plant-43647.aspx

Rare Moth Thrives in "Last Refuge" on the Island

Thursday, January 27th 2011 07:00

The Isle of Wight is the last refuge for a rare moth.

A report by Natural England, called Protecting England's Natural Treasures, shows the reddish buff species is now confined to a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Cranmore, one of the three most important sites for rare wildlife in the country.

The insect was previously found in Hampshire and Dorset, but attempts to reintroduce the moth to the mainland have failed.

The report highlights the hard work of landowners, farmers and volunteers who have transformed the fortunes of England's SSSIs, halting or reversing the long process of decline experienced by many SSSIs over recent decades.

Without these wildlife havens, the report says, a number of fragile species clinging to survival would disappear from the UK and some would become globally extinct.

Richard Grogan, from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, told IW Radio: "Cranmore has a number of small areas of land that have not been improved by chemicals or application of fertilizer or ploughing, and so they are very old grasslands. And it is in those grasslands that a plant called saw-wort lives and it's the food plant for this very rare moth.

"We have to keep the grassland open and sunny so we have spent a long time removing small, scrubby thorn trees from the site where the food plant grows. The residents are very keen to help and we call it [the moth] the Giant Panda of the Isle of Wight."

Work to enhance the moth's habitat at Cranmore has been funded by the West Wight Landscape Partnership, of which Natural England is a partner, and Higher Level Stewardship agreements.

http://www.iwradio.co.uk/newscentre/iw-radio-news/rare-moth-thrives-in-last-refuge-on-the-island-1923