Cownose Ray (Skate)

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Patuxent River

Hello my name is Michael Stalcup, I was surf fishing this morning on the Patuxent River for rock fish but ended up hooking two large skate. The first was about 4' from wing tip to wing tip, I was using a buck tail with a 4" green rubber shad attached to 15# running line with a 5' 30# leader. I got him all the way up to the edge of the rocks but he cut my line on the sharp edge of the rocks. Same thing happened with the second skate but he was only about 2' wide. My question is, is there a size limit on skate and can you eat skate? Thanks for your time and I hope to hear back from you soon.

DNR Response: Hello Michael, thank you for writing. Currently there is no size minimum nor creel limit in place regarding cownose ray, the variety you're most likely to catch in bay waters. There has recently been some interest in utilizing rays for consumption, the following web page from Viriginaseafood.org promotes rays and I believe there are some recipes: http://virginiaseafood.org/chesray/factsheet.htm