Skate Wings

White Firm ribbed wings, popular UK dish.Skates are very closely related to sharks and are members of the cartilaginous fishes group (they have no bones). They are very distinctive, with flattened, wing-like bodies, and occur all around New Zealand from coastal waters to depths of about 200m. There are two species of skate commonly caught in our commercial fisheries – rough skate and smooth skate, the latter more common in deeper waters, living longer and growing larger. They are caught as a bycatch species in trawl nets and on lines across a number of fisheries in multiple management areas, each as a separate quota management species with different quota areas. The largest quota area for both species extends from the coast of Fiordland out and round to just north of Kaikoura and including the Chatham Islands (QMA 3), accounts for more landings than all others combined.