Cuckoo ray in this area is not overfished and is not subject to overfishing.
This stock was benchmarked in 2022. The number of surveys used for the biomass index increased from two to eight, thereby covering a much greater stock area. Relative biomass (B/BMSY) is now shown to be increasing and is considerably above MSY Btrigger.
Cuckoo ray is a common offshore species of varying commercial value. As one of the smaller and less valuable species in the skate complex, it is not targeted. There can be high levels of discarding and discard survival is variable. The most recent stock assessment suggests that fishing pressure on the stock is below FMSY, and has been for the last decade.
ICES advises that when the MSY approach is applied, landings in 2023 and 2024 should be no more than 7826 and 8064 tonnes respectively. This advice is substantially larger than the previous advice, and it is not known how this increase will impact discard rates for the species.
