Sandy ray

Stock Status: 1

Sandy ray in the Celtic Sea and West of Scotland is data limited, with low resilience to fishing pressure. There is a concern for both biomass and fishing pressure on this stock.

Route 2 (data limited) scoring has been applied to this rating due to the lack of reference points. This rating is based on an assessment published in 2024 by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).

ICES cannot assess the stock or exploitation status relative to maximum sustainable yield or precautionary approach reference points because the information needed to define these is not available. With no data indicating stock trends, there is concern about the biomass.

Sandy ray has low resilience to fishing pressure. ICES advises that, under the precautionary approach, landings should be no more than 27 tonnes in each of the years 2025-2028, the same advice given for 2023 and 2024. Landings have exceeded advice since 2015. Also, landings have increased from 36 tonnes in 2020, to 56 tonnes in 2023. As this is above the previous 5-year average (51.6), there is concern for fishing pressure.

Management: 0.75

Sandy ray is a vulnerable species, and management needs to be more precautionary. The joint TAC in place is not a suitable management method.

There is no management plan in place for sandy ray in this area. Demersal elasmobranchs are usually caught as bycatch in the mixed demersal fisheries for roundfish and flatfish. There is also no official Minimum Conservation Reference Size (MCRS) in place, so juveniles may also be landed.

In 1999, a common Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for 'skates and rays' was first introduced. Five regional quotas are in place for the group of skates and rays, rather than for the individual species. This method of management has been deemed as unsuitable for protecting individual species, but species-specific quotas may also lead to discarding. In 2025, the TAC for skates and rays were set as follows:

• 3168 tonnes for ICES areas 2.a and 4
• 87 tonnes for ICES area 3.a
• 9430 tonnes for ICES areas 6.a, 6.b, 7a-c, and 7e-k
• 2688 tonnes for ICES area 7.d
• 5576 tonnes for ICES areas 8 and 9 (2024)

Skates and rays caught in the Northwest waters (ICES subareas 6 and 7) and North Sea waters (ICES subareas 2a, 3a and 4) with all fishing gears, are exempt from the landing obligation, based on their high survivability rates. Any skates and rays that are discarded are required to be released immediately and below the sea surface.

The EU and UK both have fishery management measures, which can include catch limits, population targets, and gear restrictions. However, compliance in the EU and UK has been inconsistent, with ongoing challenges in implementing some regulations. The goal of reaching Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) by 2020 was missed, with less than half of UK TACs in 2024 following ICES advice. In 2024, the EU and UK reaffirmed their commitment to sustainable fisheries by aligning management with scientific advice to gradually approach MSY. However, no new target date has been set for achieving MSY across all fisheries. The Landing Obligation (LO), an EU law retained by the UK post-Brexit, requires all quota fish to be landed, even if unwanted (over-quota or below minimum size). It aims to encourage more selective fishing methods, reduce bycatch, and improve catch reporting. However, compliance is poor, and accurate discard levels are hard to quantify with current monitoring programmes. The UK is in the process of replacing the LO with country-specific Catching Policies.

The Marine Conservation Society views Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) with cameras is one of the most cost-effective tools for providing reliable fisheries data and aiding informed management decisions. Fully monitored fisheries enhance collaboration, data accuracy, stock recovery, and reduce impacts on marine wildlife and habitats. However, the full potential of REM may only be achieved when it tracks fishing location and documents catch and bycatch, particularly where vulnerable species and habitats are at risk. As of January 2024, the EU is introducing a Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) mandate for EU vessels, including CCTV cameras on vessels 18m or more that pose a potential risk of non-compliance, within the next 4 years. Across the UK, different approaches to REM are being taken and legislation is expected to be in place across all 4 countries within the next few years.

The Fisheries Act (2020) requires the development of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) (replacing EU Multi-Annual Plans) in the UK. 43 FMPs have been proposed and are at various stages of development and implementation, these should all be published by the end of 2028. FMPs have the potential to be very important tools for managing UK fisheries, although data limitations may delay them for some stocks. It is also essential the UK governments define and adopt a standardised approach or model across the four nations to a universally defined FMP design, to ensure the consistence, quality and coherence of all the proposal FMPs.

The Marine Conservation Society is keen to see publicly available Fishery Management Plans for all commercially exploited stocks, especially where stocks are depleted, that include:

• An overview of the fishery including current stock status, spatial coverage, current fishing methods and impacts
• Targets for fishing pressure and biomass, and additional management when those targets are not being met, based on the best scientific evidence
• Timeframes for stock recovery
• Improved data collection, transparency, and accountability, supported by technologies such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM)
• Consideration of wider environmental impacts of the fishery, including habitat impacts and minimising bycatch
• Stakeholder engagement

Capture Method: 0.5

Otter trawling is likely to cause some damage to the seabed. Bycatch is moderate and may include vulnerable species.

In 2023, most sandy ray landings in this area came from bottom‑trawl fisheries (74%), with a smaller portion taken by set nets (25%), and other gears (1%). Discarding is known to occur, but ICES cannot quantify the amount of dead catch.

Elasmobranchs generally show relatively high survival rates because they lack swim bladders and are therefore less affected by changes in water pressure. Their thick, abrasive skin also provides additional protection. Inshore and coastal fisheries using trawls, longlines, gillnets, and tangle nets typically report low at-vessel mortality.

Demersal trawls have the potential to take relatively high quantities of bycatch. In the Celtic Seas ecoregion, bycatch from otter trawls can include marine mammals, seabirds, fish, elasmobranchs, and endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species. Bycatch data is limited in many UK and EU fisheries as they are generally not well monitored.

Demersal trawls have contact with the seabed resulting in penetration and abrasion of habitat features. The impact of trawling on the seabed depends on the location and scale in which trawling occurs. For example, areas that are used to natural disturbance through tides and waves, are less sensitive to habitat impacts. Areas not used to mobile towed gears are typically more sensitive to trawling. Trawl gears are known to have some of the greatest impacts on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs).

In the Celtic Seas region, an estimated 66% of the 0-200m zone, and 59% of the 200-800m zone, has been at least partially trawled. Fishing effort in the area has been decreasing since the early 2000s. This has reduced the spatial fishing footprint and the average number of times the seabed is trawled per year. Most habitats are mud and sand, which are less vulnerable to trawling. However, in the Celtic Seas, 95% of areas where VMEs such as cold-water corals and sponges occur or are likely were found to have been fished between 2009 and 2011.

Mitigation measures include a ban on bottom trawling below 800m, and restrictions from 400-600m – the areas where most VMEs are found. There remains some uncertainty about the location of some sensitive seabed habitats, so these remain at risk.

There are Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in this area, some of which are designated to protect seabed features from damaging activities. This fishery overlaps with parts of these MPAs, but the proportion of the catch coming from these areas is expected to be relatively low in relation to the unit of assessment (i.e. less than 20% of the catch or effort), and so these impacts have not been assessed within the scale of this rating. Given the important role that MPAs have in recovering the health and function of our seas, MCS encourages the supply chain to identify if their specific sources are being caught from within MPAs. If sources are suspected of coming from within designated and managed MPAs, MCS advises businesses to establish if the fishing activity is operating legally inside a designated and managed MPA, and request evidence from the fishery or managing authority to demonstrate that the activity is not damaging to protected features or a threat to the conservation objectives of the site(s).

To improve monitoring and reporting of fishing activity, MCS would like to see remote electronic monitoring (REM) with cameras implemented, used and enforced.