Greater-spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus stellaris) in Subareas 6 and 7

The population structure of catsharks in general is poorly known, but tagging data indicate that movements are generally quite limited (e.g. Burt et al., 2013 WD for S. stellaris; Rodriguez-Cabello et al., 2004, 2007 for S. canicula)., so that such species would best be managed as local populations (i.e. on the level of an ICES Division or adjacent Divisions).

The greater-spotted dogfish is a locally frequent inshore shark of the Northeast Atlantic continental shelf and is generally found from shallow water to depths of about 125 m on rough or rocky bottoms, including areas with algal cover (e.g. kelp forests) (Ebert and Stehmann, 2013).

ICES assesses the greater-spotted dogfish only in subareas 6 and 7. The species is locally common in parts of these subareas, and data are limited for other parts of the species’ biogeographic range, where it occurs at lesser density. The species occurs in other part of the ICES area, where no ICES stock assessment unit is defined