Despite the name the common skate is anything but common these days. It was once a numerous species across much of the British Isles, but skate have been massively overfished for decades, meaning they are now critically endangered. Because of the large sizes skates can reach they were constantly targeted by anglers, and as they are non-migratory and spend their entire life in one fairly small area, fishing could take place all year round – meaning populations in entire areas have been wiped out. Around the UK it is found almost exclusively in Scottish waters (Griffiths et al., 2010) and although once widespread across the northern North Sea is now largely confined to the West MPA region. It is vulnerable to trawl and long-line fisheries and has shown a marked decline and significant range contraction over the past century, largely as a consequence of removal by fisheries (Walker and Hislop, 1998). Protection from fisheries is therefore a key means of conserving this species and closing areas may confer significant benefits. The degree of protection arising from closing an area, however, will depend on the level of site fidelity of fish throughout the period they are vulnerable to fishing gears (Polunin, 2002). As common skate are vulnerable to fishing gears from the time they hatch out of their egg case this means that protection of the entire life cycle may be needed