Undulate ray

Undulate ray in the English channel has recovered to a healthy state and is currently being harvested sustainably.This stock was considered depleted since 1990 until a landing ban was implemented in 2009, which lasted until 2014. It has since recovered to a healthy state. Following a stock benchmark in 2022, relative biomass (B) is 1.77. This is above MSY Btrigger and Blim.Fishing pressure (F) on the stock in 2021 was 0.32. This is below FMSY.ICES advises that when the MSY approach is applied, landings in 2023 and 2024 should be no more than 4836 and 4675 tonnes respectively. This advice is substantially larger than the previous advice (2552 tonnes in 2021 and 2022), and it is not known how this will impact discard rates for undulate ray.Small fish (less than 50cm) were not included in the ICES assessment. Any catch of small undulate ray would continue to be discarded with a high survival rate.The stock of undulate ray in the English Channel is managed under a specific total allowable catch (TAC). This precautionary TAC has been increasing since 2016 as the biomass index has increased, however, it is constraining and results in high discard rates (e.g. 93% discarded in 2021). From 2019-2022, the TAC has been 234 tonnes for 7.d and 7.e combined. In 2023, the TAC increased substantially to 3,192 tonnes (with a 33% allocation to the UK).

The undulate ray fishery in the English Channel has only recently reopened. Multiple management measures are in place, however, it is too soon to know if these measures will be effective.The stock of undulate ray in the English Channel is managed under a specific TAC. This precautionary TAC has been increasing since 2016 following the biomass index but it is constraining, resulting in high discard rates.Each calendar year, a fishing vessel may retain on board and land any undulate ray caught in the English Channel, provided that the following conditions are met:No undulate ray may be caught between 1st May - 31st AugustNo more than 200kg of undulate ray (live weight) may be retained on board or landed per fishing tripNo undulate ray which measures less than 78 cm, or more than 97 cm, when measured from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail shall be retained on board or landedNo undulate ray may be transshippedUndulate ray may only be retained on board or landed whole or guttedSkates 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. Both the EU and UK have fishery management measures in place, which can include catch limits, targets for population sizes and fishing mortality, and controls on what fishing gear can be used and where. In the EU, compliance with regulations has been variable, and there are ongoing challenges with implementing some of them. There was a target for fishing to be at Maximum Sustainable Yield by 2020, but this was not achieved.In the UK, it is too early to tell how effective management is, as the Fisheries Act only came into force in January 2021. The Act requires the development of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs) (replacing EU Multi-Annual Plans) but there are no details yet on how and when these will be developed. FMPs have the potential to be very important tools for managing UK fisheries, although data limitations may delay them for some stocks. MCS is keen to see FMPs for all commercially exploited stocks, especially where stocks are depleted, that include:Targets for fishing pressure and biomass, and additional management when those targets are not being metTimeframes for stock recoveryTechnologies such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) to support data collection and improve transparency and accountabilityConsideration of wider environmental impacts of the fishery

Beam trawls have significant impact on the seabed, including damage to benthic communities and vulnerable marine habitats. Bycatch can be high and may include vulnerable species.Undulate ray prefer the slightly warmer water around the south of England and off the Welsh coast. Skates and rays are normally taken as bycatch and undulate ray in the English channel are mostly caught in bottom trawls (56%), nets (28%) and beam trawls (6%).Demersal trawls have contact with the seabed, resulting in penetration and abrasion of habitat features. The impact of trawling on the seabed depends on where trawling happens, and on what scale. For example, habitats that are used to natural disturbance through tides and waves are less sensitive to impacts. Areas not used to mobile towed gears are typically more sensitive.Beam trawling is one of the least selective and high impact methods of fishing. Bream trawling, especially using chain-mat gear, is damaging to the seabed and is known to have a significant impact on benthic communities, although less so on soft substrates. Heavy gear tends to have a higher seabed impact than otter trawling. Seabed penetration depends on the sediment, and varies between 1cm and 8cm.Beam trawling has the potential to catch a wide variety of non-target species. Common bycatch includes mixed crabs, urchins, lesser spotted dogfish, nursehound, dragonet, starry ray and smelt. Endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species including angel shark, blue skate and flapper skate have been depleted through fishing in this area.It's difficult to avoid catching skates and rays in nets and because of their peculiar shape and size, it's also difficult for them to escape the net once captured. Therefore, selectivity programmes are in place to reduce skate and ray catches and their survival rates. Discard rates of skates and rays can vary dramatically (30 - 70%), depending on the marketability and management measures in place. Nearly all skates below 30cm total length are discarded by English vessels.Bycatch can include juvenile skate as they can hatch from their egg cases between 10-20 cm total length and therefore, may be able to escape through the nets. The survival rate of juveniles upon discarding is extremely variable and depends on the fishing and handling methods used to capture them. Elasmobranchs have the potential for relatively high survival rates because they do not have swim bladders, and thereby are not impacted by water pressure changes. They can also have thick and abrasive skins and thorns for protection, and some have spiracles and a buccal-pump respiratory which excretes a mucus, allowing the skate or ray to ventilate and acquire oxygen when out of the water. Inshore and coastal fisheries using trawls, longlines, gillnets and tangle nets generally show low at-vessel mortality. There are a lack of studies available on long-term skate and ray survival when they are released into the wild.Habitat protection measures across European waters include Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). If those MPAs were found to be subjected to bottom trawling, MCS would assign a default red rating unless there is evidence (e.g. through environmental impact assessment) indicating the activity does not damage the integrity of the site. EU regulations prohibit bottom trawling below 800m and restrict activities between 400-800m. Spatial management is continually being developed, which will restrict the footprint of this gear on the seabed. However, there remains some uncertainty about the location of some sensitive seabed habitats so these remain at risk.To improve monitoring and reporting of fishing activity, MCS would like to see remote electronic monitoring (REM) with cameras implemented, used and enforced. To reduce the impacts of fishing on the marine environment we would like to see a just transition to the complete removal of bottom towed gear from offshore Marine Protected Areas designated to protect the seabed. We also want to see reduction and mitigation of environmental impacts including emissions and blue carbon habitat damage.