Making spurdog a fully protected species, the Swedish Board of Fisheries is banning all catches of the threatened shark even with handheld gear.
The EU Council decided on a zero-TAC for spurdog in 2009, and extended the ban to bycatches in December last year.
All Swedish professional fishermen were affected by those decisions, and from 1 April all Swedish anglers, as well, will have to throw accidentally caught spurdogs back into the sea.