IMAS wants to build new Maugean Skate facility at Taroona

There’s new hope for the Maugean Skate as researchers plan a new home for captive animals. Here’s what it could mean for the plight of the species.

A Maugean skate

A new facility to house the Maugean Skate could be built in Taroona to support a growing insurance population for the endangered species.

It’s proposed the new facility be built at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies’ Taroona site, which is currently home to a smaller Maugean skate space.

Marine biology Professor Jayson Semmens said a much larger area would be needed as captive breeding of the species continued.

“At the moment we have two adults and we brought about 50 eggs from the wild,” he said.

“We have 23 hatchlings now, not all the eggs are viable, we estimate 40 per cent viability.

“Our female has laid of 68 eggs, she lays 2 eggs every four days.”

Professor Semmens said the new facility would include larger tanks to give the marine creatures more room to swim.

Maugean skate, an endangered species photographed in Macquarie Harbour.

“We already have them on site but we’re running out of space,” Professor Semmens said.

“What we want is purpose built and state of the art has more capacity for what we have now.

“It’s important so we can continue to grow this captive group.”

Professor Semmens said the Maugean Skate typically lived for an average of ten years and matured between the four and six year mark.

“We do know if they start laying, they’ve got five years of producing eggs,” he said.

“But in captivity the female lays more than she would in the wild because she has adequate food and high nutrition, she has optimal condition for laying eggs.”

He said the insurance population was crucial as the species continued to decline in the wild.

Anti-salmon groups have been actively campaigning to save the skate from the threat of salmon farming at Macquarie Harbour.

The plight of the animal has even attracted the attention of actor Leonardo Di Caprio.

“We know there’s been a decline in Macquarie Harbour,” Professor Semmens said.

“Between 2014 – 2021 there’s been a 47 per cent decline in relative abundance.

“That suggests the population has halved.

“There’s also mortality events, two mortality events, such as low oxygen.”

“There’s a lot of factors putting the species at risk.”

Professor Semmens said the ultimate aim was to release the population back into the wild, but he said it would be a long time before that could happen.

“Now we need to start thinking about where and when we would release but a lot of research needs to be done before we can do that,” he said.

“It’s one plank of the various processes in place. It’s definitely an important part of making sure the species exists.”