Rating*****
Dogfish or spurdog or rock salmon or flake
Squalus acanthias
REASON TO AVOID
Dogfish (Spurdog/spiny dogfish/rock salmon/flake) are long-lived, slow growing and have a high age at maturity. These characteristics make them particularly vulnerable to high levels of fishing mortality. The North East Atlantic stock is now considered to be depleted and may be in danger of collapse- Avoid eating. This species is also assessed as Critically Endangered by IUCN and has been recently added to the OSPAR list of threatened and/or declining species and habitats. In the Canadian Pacific EEZ and British Columbia coastal waters, the hook and line Spiny Dogfish fishery is currently undergoing full assessment for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation- an environmental standard for sustainable and well-managed fisheries
ADVICE / ALTERNATIVES
No similar fish can be recommended but look at our Fish to Eat list and try something else.
The following is a list of fish available to the UK and European consumer which have been given a rating of 5 and which MCS believes are most vulnerable to over-fishing and/or are fished using methods which cause damage to the environment or non-target species. The list is in alphabetical order not order of threat or impact. Select a species to find out more. Click here to download the 2008-2009 version of the MCS Pocket Good Fish Guide (Adobe PDF). A new version of this guide will be available soon.
1.  Brill (from all areas except Baltic Sea)
2.  Chilean seabass or Patagonian toothfish (from all areas except the South Georgia fishery)
3.  Cod, Atlantic (Avoid wildcaught from all areas except Northeast Arctic and Iceland)
4.  Dogfish or spurdog or rock salmon or flake
5.  Dublin Bay Prawn or langoustine or scampi (from Spain and Portugal)
6.  Eel, conger
7.  Eel, European
8.  Grouper
9.  Haddock (from the Faroes and West of Scotland fisheries)
10.  Hake, European (Southern stock)
11.  Halibut, Atlantic (Wild Caught)
12.  Halibut, Greenland
13.  Herring or sild (from West of Scotland, West Ireland, and Great Sole fisheries)
14.  Ling (except handline caught from the Faroes)
15.  Lobster, American (from Southern New England stocks)
16.  Marlin, black
17.  Marlin, blue (from Atlantic longline and purse seine fisheries)
18.  Marlin, Indo-Pacific blue
19.  Marlin, white
20.  Nursehound (from Bay of Biscay and Iberian stocks)
21.  Orange roughy
22.  Plaice (from the Western Channel, Celtic Sea, Southwest Ireland and West of Ireland and Baltic Sea)
23.  Prawn, tiger and King(except organically farmed, or GAA/GlobalGap certified)
24.  Ray, blonde
25.  Ray, sandy
26.  Ray, shagreen
27.  Ray, smalleyed (from Bay of Biscay and Iberian stocks)
28.  Ray, thornback or roker (from Bay of Biscay and Iberian stocks)
29.  Ray, undulate
30.  Salmon, Atlantic (Wild Caught)
31.  Seabass (Pelagic Trawl only)
32.  Shark, mako
33.  Shark, porbeagle
34.  Shark, tope
35.  Skate, common
36.  Skate, longnose
37.  Skate, Norwegain or black
38.  Skate, white
39.  Sole, Dover or common (from Irish Sea)
40.  Starry smoothhound (from Bay of Biscay and Iberian stocks)
41.  Sturgeon, caviar (Wild Caught)
42.  Swordfish (Longline and Gillnet fisheries in Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Central and Western Pacific)
43.  Trout (Brown or Sea, wild caught from Baltic)
44.  Tuna, albacore (Longline and Trawl caught from the North and South Atlantic and the Mediterranean)
45.  Tuna, bigeye
46.  Tuna, northern bluefin
47.  Tuna, Pacific bluefin
48.  Tuna, skipjack (Purse seine from W Atlantic)
49.  Tuna, southern bluefin
50.  Turbot (Wild caught)
51.  Wolffish
   
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