Blonde ray

There is concern for the biomass of blonde ray in the Western English Channel, and concern for the fishing pressure.Route 2 (data limited) scoring has been applied to this rating owing to the lack of reference points for biomass and fishing pressure. Blonde ray is considered to have a low resilience to fishing pressure.Blonde ray in the Irish Sea, Bristol Channel and North Celtic Sea have a patchy distribution, and it is locally abundant in certain areas, including off southwest Ireland. A patchy distribution makes it difficult for scientists to interpret survey data, and its tendency to form aggregations makes it vulnerable to localised depletion. As very little is known about the biomass in this area, there is concern for the biomass.Blonde ray is an important commercial species, however, the quality of landings data is considered too poor to create stock assessments. Misidentification also occurs between blonde ray and spotted ray and this could impact the accuracy of landings data. Blonde ray is a bycatch species in demersal fisheries but it may also be targeted in areas of high local abundance due to its large size and high market value.ICES advises that when the precautionary approach is applied, landings should be no more than 573 tonnes in each of the years 2023 and 2024. This is a 20% decrease from the advice for 2021 and 2022 because the precautionary buffer has been applied.Landings in recent years have greatly exceeded the advice given by ICES (by over 200%) and therefore, there is concern for fishing pressure.

For more information about this rating please visit: http://www.cornwallgoodseafoodguide.org.uk/fish-guide/blonde-ray.php

For more information about this rating please visit: http://www.cornwallgoodseafoodguide.org.uk/fish-guide/blonde-ray.php

For more information about this rating please visit: http://www.cornwallgoodseafoodguide.org.uk/fish-guide/blonde-ray.php