The American Cownose Ray is among the least productive elasmobranchs with a generation length of 14 years and an estimated median intrinsic rate of population growth rate r = 0.008. It is an opportunistic predator of benthic invertebrates but in the United States has long been persecuted due to perceptions they feed primarily on commercial bivalves leading to claims they led to the collapse of commercial bivalve populations along the USA East Coast through a trophic cascade. This led to the development of the ‘Save the Bay, Eat a Ray’ fishery which was promoted by state fishery managers, seafood companies, some environmental organizations and local ‘eco-friendly’ restaurants as well as the development of tournaments to cull the “nuisance” cownose rays. Whereas American Cownose Ray did prey on historically abundant soft-shell clams (Mya spp.), other commercial bivalves make up a very small proportion of the diet and collapse of the bivalve stocks were primarily due to overfishing and other causes. Following the publication of a rebuttal of the trophic cascade and the implication that American Cownose Rays caused the collapse of shellfish populations, the ‘Save the Bay, Eat a Ray’ campaign has declined in popularity. In the Gulf of Mexico, a relative abundance time-series of a fishery-independent demersal trawl survey reveals that the population increased through 1987–2010 and has been declining ever since yet the overall estimated annual rate of increase is 2.5% but while the probability of Least Concern is 83% there is a 14% probability that the population is threatened. In the southern Caribbean and Southwest Atlantic, commercial and artisanal fisheries are intense, unmanaged, and have led to steep declines in other species, and there is no reason to suspect that this species has also not been reduced in numbers in that area. For example, there is a long history photographic records of past landings of schools of Rhinoptera bonasus/brasiliensis but they have completely disappeared from recent fishery landings in Venezuela. Due to the level of exploitation by widespread artisanal fisheries and in some areas commercial fisheries, which lack adequate management, it is suspected that this species has undergone a population reduction of >80% over the past three generation lengths (43 years) in that part of its range. Due to the increasing abundance in the Northwest Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, combined with suspected steep reductions in population size in the southern Caribbean and Southwest Atlantic, it is suspected that the American Cownose Ray has undergone an overall population reduction of 30–49% over the past three generation lengths (43 years), and it is assessed as Vulnerable A2d.