true

ISRA FACTSHEETS

EUROPEAN ATLANTIC

ISRA FACTSHEETS

EUROPEAN ATLANTIC

North Dogger Bank ISRA

33/124

North Dogger Bank ISRA

North Dogger Bank

Summary

North Dogger Bank is located in the central North Sea in the waters of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The area is situated within the northern extent of the Dogger Bank, characterised by a raised sandbank. It is influenced by fronts caused by multiple water masses. Within this area there are: threatened species and reproductive areas (Thorny Skate Amblyraja radiata).

North Dogger Bank

North Dogger Bank

DESCRIPTION OF HABITAT

Northeast Dogger Bank is located in the central North Sea, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The area is situated within Dogger Bank, an extensive raised sandbank (Diesing et al. 2009). It is influenced by a front created by cooler Atlantic Ocean water masses and warmer inflow from the English Channel (Emery et al. 2019).

This Important Shark and Ray Area is benthic and subsurface and is delineated from 60–90 m based on the depth range of Qualifying Species in the area.

CRITERION A

VULNERABILITY

One Qualifying Species considered threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species regularly occurs in the area. This is the Vulnerable Thorny Skate (Kulka et al. 2020).

CRITERION C

SUB-CRITERION C1 – REPRODUCTIVE AREAS

North Dogger Bank is an important reproductive area for one ray species.

Four surveys were undertaken in this area per year between 2010–2024 as part of the North Sea International Bottom Trawl Survey (IBTS; ICES 2025). During this period, 177 Thorny Skates were recorded in this area across nearly all years of the IBTS (n = 4–23 per year). Of these, 21 neonate/young-of-the-year (YOY) Thorny Skates were caught within this area, measuring =< 14 cm total length (TL). Thorny Skates hatch at ~10 cm TL, and individuals up to 14 cm TL are considered YOY (Ellis et al. 2024). Neonate/YOY Thorny Skates were reported in 9 of 15 survey years, in 2010 (n = 1), 2011 (n = 5), 2012 (n = 4), 2013 (n = 4), 2014 (n = 1), 2017 (n = 2), 2021 (n = 2), 2022 (n = 1), and 2023 (n = 1) (Ellis et al. 2024; ICES 2025). Between 2014–2017, Thorny Skate egg cases caught in the IBTS were retained for identification/analysis by the Shark Trust. Overall, 23 Thorny Skate egg cases were recorded in 2014 (n = 6), 2016 (n = 3), and 2017 (n = 14) (Ellis et al. 2024; Shark Trust unpubl. data. 2025). The design of the IBTS reduces the catchability of smaller rays, such as Thorny Skates (Walker et al. 2017). Despite this, the area has the second largest and most regular and predictable observations of the species at these early life stages within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and third largest within the broader European Atlantic.

North Dogger Bank

SUBMIT A REQUEST

ISRA SPATIAL LAYER REQUEST

To make a request to download the ISRA Layer in either a GIS compatible Shapefile (.shp) or Google Earth compatible Keyhole Markup Language Zipped file (.kmz) please complete the following form. We will review your request and send the download details to you. We will endeavor to send you the requested files as soon as we can. However, please note that this is not an automated process, and before requests are responded to, they undergo internal review and authorization. As such, requests normally take 5–10 working days to process.

Should you have questions about the data or process, please do not hesitate to contact us.

    * indicates required

    Industry or sector (*)

    Under the terms and conditions of our User License Agreement , full and appropriate acknowledgement is required in any materials and publications derived from the data (and copies should be sent to the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group through the contact form). For any publications making substantial use of the data, the ISRA welcomes the opportunity for co-authorship, collaboration, and to comment prior to publication.


    Furthermore, we need to know whether you are a commercial or non-commercial user. Non-commercial includes scientific research, education or conservation. Commercial is defined as follows: any use by, on behalf of, or to inform or assist the activities of a commercial entity (that operates ‘for profit’) or use by a non-profit for the purposes of revenue generation

    Type of use(*):

    Please specify which layer (ex. all layers, layers within a specific Region, layers within a Jurisdiction or a single ISRA): Purpose (*):

    Please provide a description of how you intend to use the ISRA GIS Dataset. The more details you provide, the faster we can respond to your request. We may require further clarification prior to providing access. (min. 100 characters – max 1,000 characters)



    File format request (*)

    By providing your personal data, you consent to its processing as described below. The IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group will use the information you provide on this form to send the documents you requested. You can change your mind at any time by writing to the ISRA Data Coordinator www.sharkrayareas.org/contact. All personal details provided will be treated with respect. For any information you can visit our Privacy Policy.
    Please read the User License Agreement and ISRA Layer Metadata Description

    This form uses Google reCaptcha to reduce spam. Privacy - Terms