Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science Vol 6 No 7

The north-eastern Atlantic stock of spurdog (Squalus acanthias) is assessed as being at a historical low by ICES and others (De Oliveira et al. 2013, ICES 2014). In consequence a zero Total Allowable Catch limit was set throughout EU waters (European Commission 2015). The aims of the present project were to collect new data on the levels of spurdog by-catch, locations of by-catch and to collect biological information in terms of the sizes and sex of the fish caught in order to inform the debate on whether a controlled incidental by-catch (i.e. not targeted) fishery could be considered. The project was funded to run over the winters of 2013/14 and 2014/15. Because not all the available budget for sampling in 2013/2014 was spent, sampling was extended to cover the spring and summer 2014.