Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bony fish (Actinopterygii) > Fish |
| Red List Status: | (Not Relevant) [(not listed)(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Pleuronectes platessa |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | Linnaeus, 1758 |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | (not listed) |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Red list status in England is unknown. Subject to fishing pressures. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Status review required |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | This species would not benefit from untargeted management |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 1. Taxonomy established |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Combination or other (detail in comments) |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Policy conflict - some stocks overfished and have been assessed as critical according to Oceana Taking Stock Report (Schijns and Rangeley, 2023). Pressures outside the UK. Protection of juveniles could benefit the stocks in the long run. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: A scientific assessment to inform fishery management decisions for some plaice stocks remains lacking, leaving them at greater risk of poor management decisions.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Juvenile plaice use coastal and estuarine environments as nursery grounds. Investigate the potential benefit of protecting and enhancing nearshore nursery areas to protect critical lifestages and facilitate population recruitment (essential fish habitat).
Action targets: 4. Autecology and pressures understood
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Update England Red List status.
Action targets: 2. Biological status assessment exists
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: 1 year
Scale of Implementation: National
High priority sites:
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.