Nursehound in this area are data limited, with low resilience to fishing pressure. However, there is currently no concern for fishing pressure or biomass.Route 2 (data limited) scoring has been applied to this rating due to the lack of reference points. The most recent assessment was published in 2025 by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). This species is also known as the greater-spotted dogfish, which is a catshark species. All catsharks are primarily taken as bycatch, but larger individuals may be used for human consumption, while smaller individuals are often used as bait in potting fisheries.Nursehound has a low resilience to fishing pressure. Despite landings showing an upward trend since 2012, increasing 225 tonnes to 694 tonnes in 2024, fishing pressure remains below the FMSY proxy. As such, there is currently no concern for fishing pressure.Stock size is monitored using a biomass index – Itrigger. Although biomass has fluctuated since the start of the timeseries in 1997, it surpassed Itrigger (0.54) in 2003 and has remained above this threshold since. Since 2008, stock size has shown a general upward trend. This trend is shown in biomass indices: Index A (mean of 2023-2024) is 1.47, compared with Index B (mean of 2021-2022) at 1.35. As the stock is increasing and remains above Itrigger, there is no concern for biomass.ICES advice on landings follows the MSY approach. It is determined from the most recent advised landings (from 2025), adjusted by several factors: the ratio of Index A to Index B, the ratio of observed mean catch length to target mean catch length, a biomass safeguard, and a precautionary multiplier. As a result, advised landings increased by 11% from 682 tonnes in 2025 to 758 tonnes for both 2026 and 2027. Discard rates remain unquantified.
