Survival Prepared by:

• Main Authors: J. R. Ellis, G. Burt, L. Cox, Cefas Lowestoft
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Common skate; Dipturus batis
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.177.5578; http://www.cefas.co.uk/media/127670/fsp19_tracked_final.pdf

This Fisheries Science Partnership project was developed to estimate the longer-term survivorship and movements of thornback ray Raja clavata in the southern North Sea, using traditional tagging methods. Thornback ray is the dominant skate species taken in targeted and mixed fisheries in this area, and is taken in various trawl, line and gillnet fisheries. Five inshore vessels were used in the study, with seven trips planned in order to examine the catches and survivorship following capture by small otter trawlers, gillnetters and longline vessels. A variety of skate and ray species is marketed as ‘skate’, and commercial landings data are for all species combined. The lack of species-specific landings data has hampered assessments of the status of individual stocks and species, although species-specific landings are required for the main skate species taken in the North Sea from 2008. Some of the larger-bodied skate species, such as common skate Dipturus batis are now of conservation concern. The main objectives of this study were to (1) examine the species, sex and size composition of skates (Rajidae) taken in inshore fisheries in the southern North Sea, (2) assess the survivorship of commercially caught fish and (3) undertake a