Hope for rare fish annihilated by popular product sold by Coles and Woolworths
A maugean skate has been bred in captivity for the first time. But the species' future is less than secure.
A rare fish that’s been annihilated by industrial salmon farming has been conceived in captivity for the first time. The maugean skate’s wild population sadly halved between 2014 and 2021, and just 1,000 are thought to remain.
Fascinating images supplied by the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) on Tuesday show their new hatchling. The achievement occurred after an adult female skate was brought into captivity in December.
Professor Jayson Semmens, who leads the IMAS Maugean skate captive breeding program, expects many more of the female's 108 eggs to soon hatch.
"The others are imminent. A large proportion of them are developing and on their way. So we're going to have a lot of hungry mouths to feed," he told Yahoo News.
While a male was also secured, the mother skate chose instead to fertilise her eggs with sperm she stored after mating in the wild before her capture. It's believed the sperm could come from several males which is great news for genetic diversity within the captive population.
The birth has been celebrated as a win for the fish, but the species' last stronghold at Macquarie Harbour is heavily degraded and oxygen levels are poor. Pressure is growing on Australia's major supermarkets to stop selling cheap salmon farmed in its habitat and labelling it as "sustainable".
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'Battle' to save maugean skate from extinction not won yet
Along with the captive bred maugean skates, a clutch of 50 eggs were separately harvested from the wild. Close to half of them have hatched, significantly higher than what would be expected in the wild.
The species is one of 110 selected to be prioritised for recovery under the Albanese Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan.
Environment Minister Tanya Pliberksek welcomed the hatching of the skate, commending the university for its fast achievement, however she warned its future was still not secure.
“But the battle to ensure the future for the endangered Maugean Skate is by no means won,” she said.
“We’ll keep working with industry, environmentalists and the Tasmanian Government on restoring the health of the harbour.”
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Captive breeding and fenced off sanctuaries appear to be the only hope for many of Australia’s threatened species, as climate change, habitat loss and feral predators continue to annihilate native animals.
Despite the stingray-like creature existing in just one place in the world, the Tasmanian government has continued to support the salmon industry’s presence in Macquarie Harbour, while encouraging it to reduce its impact on the environment.
Australia’s two major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, have come under repeated pressure from conservationists to clearly label salmon that's sourced from Macquarie Harbour.
"There’s no way to tell if this product has this dark secret lying underneath that’s driving an animal to extinction," the Bob Brown Foundation told Yahoo News in June. “It’s up to them to provide clear, obvious and truthful labelling to their consumers.”
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What's next for the captive-bred maugean skates?
The captive breeding program is necessary because of low oxygen levels in Macquarie Harbour. The federal government lists gill net fishing as one pressure on the species, but maintains the water quality problem is "due primarily to salmon farming".
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IMAS researcher Dr David Moreno said if the program is to be a success it needs to have an end date, and the species must be able to survive in the wild.
"It really is just intervention. Captivity should not be seen as a way of holding them to stop extinction. The ultimate goal must be rehabilitation of the species into the wild," he told Yahoo.
"Captive breeding is just a way to boost the population in the wild."
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