Human Interactions
The main conservation threat to the plain maskray is incidental capture by commercial bottom trawl fisheries. In the present day, this is mostly caused by Australia's Northern Prawn Fishery, which operates throughout its range. Although this species is discarded when caught, it is more delicate-bodied than other maskrays and is thus unlikely to survive encounters with trawling gear. Historically, this species may also have been negatively affected by Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese trawlers that fished intensively off northern Australia from 1959 to 1990. These factors, coupled with the plain maskray's limited distribution and low reproductive rate, have resulted in its being assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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“Come away, O human child!
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For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)