The Life of Animals | Spiny dogfish | Spiny dogfish are fished for food in Europe, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Chile. The fins and tails are processed into fin needles and are used in less expensive versions of shark fin soup in Chinese cuisine. In England this and other dogfish are sold in fish and chip shops as "rock salmon" or "shoo", in France it is sold as "small salmon" (saumonette) and in Belgium and Germany it is sold as "sea eel" ( zeepaling and Seeaal, respectively).
Once the most abundant shark species in the world, Populations of Squalus acanthias have Declined significantly. They are classified in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Vulnerable globally and Critically Endangered in the Northeast Atlantic, meaning stocks around Europe have Decreased by at least 95%. In EU waters, a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) has been in place since 1999, but until 2007 it only applied to ICES Areas IIa and IV.
This drastic increase of led to the creation and implementation of many fisheries management policies Placing restrictions on the fishing of spiny dogfish. However, since the species is a late maturing fish, it takes a while to rebuild the population. In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the spiny dogfish to its seafood red list.
The current proposed quota for 2011 is 35.5m lbs. with a trip limit of 4000 lbs. In 2010, NOAA Announced the Eastern U.S. Atlantic spiny dogfish stocks to be Rebuilt in 2011 and concerns about predatory dogfish posing a serious threat to other stocks resulted in an emergency Amendment of the quota with Nearly 15 million pounds being added