Fishing ground:Northern North Sea.

Size:Cusk can measure up to 110 cm, but is usually 40 cm. Maximum weight is 15 kg.

Habitat:The cusk’s habitat extends from Iceland, across to southern Greenland and along the Norwegian coast. It prefers to stay on bank slopes at a depth of 200 - 500 metres, but it is not unusual for cusk to swim right down to a depth of 1,000 metres.

Feeding and diet:Groundfish, langoustine and other large crustaceans.

Season:Usually available throughout the year. The quality is affected only slightly by spawning times.

Fishing techniques:Caught with trawls and especially long lines.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The total length of our domestic common octopus is no more than 50 cm. The Mediterranean curled octopus seldom measures more than 1 metre,

Habitat:The common octopus lives near the bottom of the sea at a depth of 0 - 200 metres and can be found from the British Isles to the Mediterranean coast of Africa and Asia, and also along south-eastern America and parts of the east coast of South America.
The curled octopus is generally found in the North Sea around Iceland and in many parts of the Mediterranean.

Feeding and diet:Octopus live particularly on crabs and clams, which they paralyse with poison from a pair of salivary glands.

Season:May be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:In the Mediterranean the local curled octopus is fished in pots, which are laid out on the seabed. The domestic curled octopus is not exploited commercially and fished only rarely as a by-catch.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic.

Size:There is no minimum size for greater weevers. The greater weever is usually 20-30 cm long. The maximum length is 42 cm.

Habitat:Most of the year the greater weever lives out medium-deep waters. In summer it ventures in to a depth of 1 - 15 metres. During the day it hides from its prey and burrows down into the sanded, so only its eyes and snout protrude.

Feeding and diet:The greater weever lives on crustaceans and small groundfish.

Season:Greater weever can be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:By-catch in nets, trawls or on longline.

Fishing ground:Fresh water, breeding, Baltic Sea

Size:Minimum size = 400 mm. The northern pike is usually fished, when it reaches a weight of 1 - 5 kg. It can grow to a length of 2 metres and can weigh more than 20 kg. The females are larger than the males. The males rarely weigh more than 2.5 - 3 kg.

Habitat:The northern pike lives in all sorts of lakes and is often encountered in the riparian zone. The northern pike can also be found in large streams and rivers, usually in areas of calm water. During the winter they venture out into the deeper waters of the lakes.

Feeding and diet:The northern pike prefers living bait. It hunts mainly for creatures, which move in the upper water layers: It eats mainly fish, e.g. shellfish, but also frogs, grass snakes, ducklings and rats.

Season:The northern pike is protected from 1 to 30 April.

Fishing techniques:The northern pike is fished in nets, with hooks and with seines and fish traps, and in some places it is farmed.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:Minimum size is 1.5 kg. The males grow to approx. 80 cm (6-7 kg), the females to 100 cm (18 kg). Max. 120 cm (approx. 45 kg).

Habitat:The Greenland halibut is an Arctic fish, which lives pelagically at a depth of 50 - 2,000 metres. It is fished on continental slopes and bank slopes at Troms, Finmark and Greenland. The Greenland halibut is widely distributed in both the North Atlantic region and in the North Pacific.

Feeding and diet:The Greenland halibut eats deep-sea prawns, glacial eelpouts, capelin, small cod and small halibut. Declining incidence of food will obviously have an impact on the incidence of halibut.

Season:Greenland halibut may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Caught on longlines, in trawls and nets. Halibut fished on longlines fetch a better price than if they are fished with trawls and nets.

Fishing ground:NNorth-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The minimum size is 23 cm. In the North Sea it rarely measures more than 40 cm, in Iceland 40 - 50 cm, max. 70 cm.

Habitat:Whiting can be fished from northern Norway and Iceland, down to Scotland and further down in northern Spain, and in the North Sea, the Kattegat and the Skagerrak. It can be found at all depths up to 200 metres, frequently near the coast.

Feeding and diet:Whiting feed on fish such as whitebait, sand lance, Norway pout, and on shellfish such as prawns and crabs.

Season:Whiting may be fished throughout the year. August and September are considered to be the best period for fishing.

Fishing techniques:Whiting is fished by bottom trawling, with Danish seines or as by-catch in herring or prawn trawling.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The minimum size in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat is 23 cm. The minimum size in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and Øresund is 25 cm. Dab usually grows to a length of 30 cm, rarely exceeding 40 cm.

Habitat:Dab often live on the sandy bed at depths between 20 - 120 metres, slightly deeper than plaice. It is particularly abundant in the North Sea.

Feeding and diet:Dab feed on brittle stars, small sea urchins, hermit crabs, sandhoppers, worms and molluscs. To a lesser extent, their diet includes sandlance, light goby and capelin.

Season:Dab may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Fished mainly as by-catch in trawls, Danish seines and nets.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:There is no minimum size for gurnard. The red gurnard grows to a length of approx. 30 cm, but can be as long as approx. 75 cm. The grey gurnard grows to a length of approx. 30 cm, but can be as long as approx. 45 cm.

Habitat:The gurnard is a groundfish, but is most frequently caught when free swimming. The grey gurnard lives at a depth of between 10 and 150 metres, whereas the red gurnard lives at a depth of between 20 and 300 metres. Both species live on mixed or soft beds. In summer they venture nearer to the coast.

Feeding and diet:The gurnard is predominantly fish eating, but can eat all kinds of benthic invertebrates such as crabs, prawns and worms.

Season:Gurnard may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:By-catch in trawls and on longlines. Occasionally appear as a significant by-catch in industrial fishing.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The minimum size in the North Sea, Baltic Sea, the Belts and the Øresund is 35 cm. In the Skagerrak and Kattegat 32 cm. Haddock can reach a length of 1 m and thus weigh approx. 12 kg (approx. 20 years).

Habitat:The main fishing areas are in the North Sea, the Barents Sea, near Iceland and on the east coast of North America. Haddock lives near the seabed at a depth of 10 - 200 metres, where it is sandy or muddy.

Feeding and diet:Haddock feed on brittle stars, molluscs, worms, herring roe, capelin and fish spawn.

Season:Haddock may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Haddock is fished with trawls, Danish seines and longlines at a depth of 40 - 150 metres.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The minimum size is 40 cm. Hake rarely grow to a length of more than 1 metre and weigh a maximum of 10 kg.

Habitat:The hake habitat stretches from northern Norway to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, down along the western area of the British Isles, the coasts of Spain and Portugal and throughout the Mediterranean. Hake live at a depth of 100 - 300 metres.

Feeding and diet:The hake’s diet includes herring, sprat, anchovy, sardine and mackerel.

Season:Hake may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Hake is fished with trawl nets, seines and longlines.

Fishing ground:Farmed

Size:Minimum size is 60 cm. The male salmon seldom measures more than 150 cm (36 kg). The females rarely exceed 120 cm (20 kg). Salmon grow slowly in fresh water. When they have reached a length of 10 - 15 cm, it migrates to the sea. After 1 year in the sea, it measures 50-65 cm.

Habitat:The salmon stays for 1-5 years in fresh water, before migrating to the sea. In the sea the salmon swims freely and widely as a predator in the upper water layer. The large salmon come from the sea to the coasts for spawning in May, the smaller a little later.

Feeding and diet:In the sea salmon are fed with special feed made from fish meal. In freshwater the salmon live on aquatic insects. In saltwater the wild salmon lives on crustaceans, sticklebacks, herring and sand lance.

Season:When breeding, salmon are protected everywhere from 16 November to 15 January. In Ringkøbing, Nissum and Stadil fjords the very lean, post-spawning salmon are totally protected.

Fishing techniques:Today the rearing of salmon fry in mariculture is the main source of salmon supply for the consumer market. Wild salmon is mainly fished during its migrations along the coasts. Wild salmon is fished with drift nets.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:There is no minimum size. Ling can reach a length of 1.8 metres (approx. 30 kg).

Habitat:Ling at a depth of 100 - 600 metres. Its distribution stretches from northern Norway, along the Norwegian coast across to the Faroe Islands and Iceland and west of Scotland to the Bay of Biscay.

Feeding and diet:Ling live on Norway pout, blue whiting (a relative of the Norway pout), gurnard, megrim, Norwegian lobster and octopus.

Season:Ling may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Ling are fished with longlines and trawls.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The minimum size is 30 cm. The average weight is approx. 2.5 - 3 kg. It can grow to a length of 120 cm and at the age of approx. 15 weighs approx. 10 kg.

Habitat:Pollock do not like over fresh water, so Bornholm is the limit for their distribution in the Baltic Sea region. The habitat of the pollock stretches from the coast and up to a depth of 200 metres. Pollock prefer to live among the long strands of sea belt and oarweed.

Feeding and diet:Small pollock eat worms, shrimps and crabs. Large pollock eat sea bream, wrasse, pipefish and sculpin.

Season:Pollock may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Pollock is fished as a by-catch during cod-fishing with lines, traps and nets.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:Minimum size in the North Sea = 30 cm. In the Skagerrak and Kattegat = 20 cm. Mackerel usually grow to a length of 30 - 40 cm, maximum 50 cm, and rarely exceed a weight of 1 kg.

Habitat:The mackerel is a pelagic (living in the open sea) and swims in shoals. It is a very fast swimmer and moves near the surface of the water. Mackerel is widely distributed: along the east coast of North America, around Iceland, from the Northern Cape to the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal and in the Mediterranean and Baltic Sea, where it can sometimes be found as far as Finland.

Feeding and diet:In spring the mackerel eats plankton such as sea butterflies, cyclopoida and fish roe. After spawning it gluts itself on whitebait, sprats and sand lance.

Season:Mackerel may be fished throughout the year. But it is best, when it is at its fattest in late summer and autumn.

Fishing techniques:Drift nets, seines, trolling, pound nets.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The minimum size is 40 cm. It can grow to a length of 130 cm (27 years).

Habitat:The coalfish is a pelagic fish, i.e. it lives in the open sea. Coalfish is a distinct shoal fish. It swims far and wide and often follows herring.

Feeding and diet:Free-swimming crustaceans, herring, sprat and fry. The coalfish’s gill arches have numerous gill rakers, which effectively sieve small crustaceans from the water.

Season:Coalfish may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Coalfish is fished with seines, bottom trawls, net and hook.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:Minimum size is 30 cm. On average the turbot grwos to a length of 50 - 60 cm, max. approx. 1 metre (10-15 kg).

Habitat:The turbot lives at a depth of 20 - 70 metres, on sandy, stony or mixed seabed.

Feeding and diet:The turbot mainly eats other groundfish, but also large crustaceans, small fish and clams.

Season:Turbot may be fished throughout the year with the exception of conservation in Sub-Regions 22 and 24 - 26 from 1 June - 31 July. See “Sub-Regions” on Page 109.

Fishing techniques:Nets, as by-catch with trawls, Danish seines and longline. Recent years have witnessed substantial farming of turbot.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:There is no minimum size. At the age of 4 years the ocean perch is approx. 10 cm and at 12 years approx. 20 cm. The ocean perch grows to a maximum length of 1 metre (15 kg) and is then approx. 60 years’ old.

Habitat:The ocean perch favours bedrock and lives near the seabed at a depth of 100 - 400 metres, but may also be encountered pelagically (out in the open sea). Like all other deep-sea fish, the ocean perch grows slowly.

Feeding and diet:Small ocean perch eat crayfish, free-swimming sandhoppers, arrow worms and cod fry. Older fish prefer herring and capelin.

Season:Ocean perch may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Ocean perch are fished with trawls or longlines, some as a by-catch from shrimp trawling. Fishing has intensified as a result of the overfishing of traditional species of fish.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:In the North Sea the minimum size is 20 cm, and in the Skagerrak and Kattegat 18 cm. The Dutch herring measures 20 - 30 cm. The sexually mature herring measures 30 - 37 cm. The Icelandic herring is about the same size as the largest Norwegian herring.

Habitat:Herring is divided into strains according to size, growth, spawning time and migration routes. The most important herring strains are White Sea herring, the Murman herring, the winter-spawning Norwegian herring, the North Sea autumn spawner and the Baltic herring. Some herrings migrate large distances, while others are more stationary.

Feeding and diet:The herring eats during the day, because it depends on its sight. The adult herring eats plankton, particularly copepods, crayfish and sea butterflies. In the North Sea the larva of sand lance is an important source of food. Young herring eat microscopic plankton algae and shellfish larvae.

Season:Herring may be fished throughout the year (limited by fishing quota) Spring herring: Spring (February-April) Dutch herring: Summer Harvest herring: Autumn (August-October) Great herring (October-December).

Fishing techniques:Drift nets, seines, bottom nets, trawls. If the herring has eaten sea butterflies, it must be gutted for 32 hours at 6°C or 9 hours at 20°C, until its stomach is empty, otherwise it will burst and be unsuitable for salting.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The minimum size in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat is 28 cm. At the age of 5 the males in the North Sea measure 29 cm, the females approx. 33 cm. The witch flounder grows to a maximum length of 55 cm (2.5 kg).

Habitat:The witch flounder favours areas with soft beds and depths of 100 - 400 metres, but may also venture into shallower waters.

Feeding and diet:The witch flounder lives on worms, crustaceans, echinoderms and other benthic invertebrates.

Season:Witch flounder may be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Fished with trawls and Danish seines and as by-catch in shrimp trawls.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The minimum size in the North Sea is 25 cm. The minimum size in the Skagerrak and Kattegat is 20 cm. The minimum size in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and Øresund is 25.5 cm. The European flounder rarely reaches a length of more than 30 cm (approx. 1 kg). Max. length 50 cm.

Habitat:The habitat of the European flounder extends from the tidal zone to a depth of 25 metres. In the summer European flounders gather particularly in river estuaries and brackish fjords. In winter most of them leave the shallow, brackish water for deeper, warmer and saltier waters.

Feeding and diet:The European flounder eats worms, amphipods, seaweed, shrimps, soft-shell clams, mussels, round goby and sand lance.

Season:European flounder may be fished throughout the year with the exception of local preservation orders:

Fishing techniques:Traps, pound nets, nets, Danish Seines and bottom trawls.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:Minimum size is 30 cm. The brill growths to a max length of approx. 35 cm in the Baltic Sea, rarely more than 60 cm in the North Sea and up to 75 cm in the Mediterranean.

Habitat:Brill live at a depth of 5 - 50 metres, on a sandy or mixed bed.

Feeding and diet:Their diet consists of groundfish and large crustaceans.

Season:Brill may be fished throughout the year with the exception of preservation in sub-regions 22, 24-26 from 1 June - 31 July. See “Sub-Regions” on Page 109.

Fishing techniques:Caught as a by-catch in bottom trawls, pound nets, traps and Danish seines.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The male lumpfish grows to a length of approx. 30 cm, the female to approx. 50 cm. There is no minimum size for lumpfish.

Habitat:Lumpfish live on a hard, rocky bed at a depth of 20 - 200 metres. Their habitat extends from the Baltic Sea to the whole of the North Atlantic and Greenland and Canada.

Feeding and diet:The lumpfish eats crustaceans, small fish and jellyfish.

Season:Early spring: February to April.

Fishing techniques:By-catch in pound nets and nets.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The minimum size in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat is 24 cm. The minimum size in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and Øresund is 24.5 cm. Dover sole usually grows to a length of 30 - 40 cm and weighs approx. 320 g when it is 4-8 years old. Max. length is approx. 60 cm and weight approx. 3 kg. Sole can live as long as 20 years.

Habitat:TThe sole is most frequently found at a depth of 10 - 60 metres, on a mixture of mud and sand or a soft bed. The sole is a nocturnal creature, staying mostly in a burrow during the day.

Feeding and diet:The sole eats soft-shelled clams, annelids, small crustaceans and some goby fry and sand lance.

Season:Dover sole may be fished throughout the year. But they are mostly fished during the spawning period from April to June.

Fishing techniques:Sole is fished with sole trawls and Danish seines, in sole nets and as a by-catch in plaice nets.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The minimum size for cod in the North Sea and Skagerrak is 40 cm. In the Kattegat, the Baltic Sea and the Belts, the minimum size is 35 cm. Cod can grow to a length of 110 cm and weigh 15 kg. In rare cases, it may be more than 150 cm and weigh up to 40 kg.

Habitat:The cod population of the North Sea represents on of the six largest cod strains in the world. The others are: the Newfoundland cod, Greenland cod, Icelandic cod, Lofoten cod, and the Barents Sea and Baltic Sea cod. Cod usually move near the seabed, but they can also be free swimming, both near the coast and out at sea in deep water.

Feeding and diet:The cod is a consummate predator. It lives on other fish, e.g. herring, capelin and sand lance, but also on clams, crustaceans, worms and sea urchins. The meat of the cod becomes looser, when it eats a lot. During the winter and spawning periods its need for food is greatly reduced.

Season:Cod may be fished throughout the year.
With local regulations in accordance with EU fishing quotas, which determine where and when cod may be fished.

Fishing techniques:Cod is fished with trawls, Danish seines, nets, drift nets, purse seines and lines. Coastal cod are fished with cod traps and pound nets.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:There is no minimum size for tuna. Tuna can grow to a length of 400 cm and weigh approx. 5-600 kg and live to an age of 15 years. The general weight is approx. 70-110 kg.

Habitat:Tuna is a pelagic fish, living in small shoals near the surface. Its habitat is both oceanic and coastal, but it requires a water temperature of 10° C. Tuna migrate from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean to spawn. In August-September the tuna disappears from northern Europe, probably to the waters around the Azores.

Feeding and diet:During its travels the tuna eats shoal fish such as anchovies, sardines and herring. At a depth of 80 - 90 metres the tuna hunts ocean perch and ling. Great herring, mackerel and garfish are often attacked by between 10 and 100 tuna simultaneously. They fight savagely in the attempt to stun and wound their prey.

Season:In northern European waters the peak season for tuna fishing is in September. In most European waters the season begins in July and ends in November.

Fishing techniques:-

Fishing ground:Bred.

Characteristics:The flesh is bright red to pink and fat containing.

Nature:-

Of production:Frozen in fillets or steaks.

Season:All year.

Fishing ground:-

Characteristics:The flesh is pink to red right fat content.

Nature:-

Of production:Frozen in fillets or steaks. Also available smoked.

Season:All year.

Fishing ground:-

Characteristics:The meat is generally cream to dark with a darker bloodline.

Nature:-

Of production:Frozen in fillets or steaks.

Season:All year.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic, and farmed in the Baltic Sea

Size:The blue mussel seldom reached a length of more than 80 mm. When the mussel is 60-70 mm long, it is optimal for consumption.

Habitat:The blue mussel lives at a depth of 0 - 10 metres, where there is a powerful current. It attaches itself to rocks, poles, vegetation etc. It is able to loosen its attachment threads and crawl to another location, where it can then attach itself again. Farming involves laying out the spawn on especially suitable banks or cultivating them on poles, ropes etc.

Feeding and diet:Microscopic plankton.

Season:Is fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Mussel scrapers, lines and farming on special banks.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The cockle grows to a cross-section size of 5 cm.

Habitat:The cockle lives in burrows 1 - 2 cm down in the sandy bed near the coast, i.e. from the tidal zone and out to a depth of a few metres. It sits with its foot down as an anchor and with its two separate breathing pipes up in the water.

Feeding and diet:Cockle feed on microscopic plankton.

Season:May be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Caught with scraping implements.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The lobster can grow to a length of 75 cm (4 kg), but rarely to more than 30 cm (1 kg).
The minimum size in the North Sea: Full length 24 cm, carapace 8.5 cm.
The minimum size in the Skagerrak and Kattegat: Full length 22 cm, carapace 7.8 cm.
The minimum size in the Baltic Sea, the Belts and the Øresund: Full length 21 cm.

Habitat:The lobster lives at a depth of 2 - 40 metres on rocky ground or algae-populated reefs. It is quite stationary. In the winter it migrates out to somewhat deeper waters. In the summer months it can be found in quite shallow water.

Feeding and diet:The lobster is a nocturnal creature, which lives on all sorts of benthic invertebrates, carrion and weaker species.

Season:Fished mainly in the summer. Roe lobster is protected in the Limfjord throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:It is fished with pots, in which the bait does not need to be fresh.

Fishing ground:Canada - Halifax

Size:The lobster can grow to a length of 75 cm (4 kg), but rarely to more than 30 cm (1 kg).

Habitat:Canada

Feeding and diet:The lobster is a nocturnal creature, which lives on all sorts of benthic invertebrates, carrion and weaker species.

Season:-

Fishing techniques:It is fished with pots, in which the bait does not need to be fresh.

Fishing ground:North-East Atlantic, Baltic Sea

Size:The males grow to a max. length of 24 cm, the females to 20 cm. But the Norway lobster rarely exceeds 15 cm.
The minimum size full length from the feelers on the head to the back edge of the tail’s middle section is 13 cm. The minimum measurement for the tail from the front edge of the first tail section to the back edge of the tail’s middle section is 7.2 cm.

Habitat:The Norway lobster lives in burrows in the soft bed at a depth of 40 - 250 metres, but moves about actively on the seabed at night. Norway lobsters dig their own passages in the seabed, usually with two openings, and they gather in groups of 5 - 10.

Feeding and diet:The Norway lobster lives on microscopic benthic invertebrates, worms and crustaceans.

Season:May be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:It is fished with trawls and seines, particularly at night. A valuable by-catch in shrimp trawls. Pot fishing is under development.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:The minimum size in the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat is 10 cm.

Habitat:The great scallop is found on the seabed with its right-hand shell down. Normally the shells are open. It is distributed along the whole coast of Western Europe out to a depth of 100 metres. It is not very common in the eastern part of the North Sea and rare in the Kattegat. West of the British Isles and further south it is abundant.

Feeding and diet:The great scallop lives on microscopic plankton.

Season:May be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:It is fished with scraping implements.

Fishing ground:Fresh water, farmed

Size:The female crayfish grows to a length of 12 cm (80-85 g). The males grow to a length of 16 cm (150 g). The minimum size is 90 mm full length. Any crayfish longer than 12 cm are usually males.

Habitat:Crayfish live in clean, oxygen-rich shallow waters such as lakes, ponds, and marl and peat bogs, where the bottom is firm and without dense vegetation. It favours steep banks where it burrows. During the day the crayfish hides in the passages it has dug. At night it roams around in search of food.

Feeding and diet:Crayfish fry eat plants such as roots from water buttercup, miriophyllum and chara. The mature crayfish eats fly larvae, snails, and other crustaceans and fish roe. During the winter months the crayfish does not eat.

Season:The female crayfish is protected from 1 October to 31 July. The male crayfish is protected from 1 October to 31 March.

Fishing techniques:It is fished with crayfish cages, crayfish traps or trenchers with fresh bait. It is fished at night.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic

Size:Max. width across the carapace is approx. 30 cm (4-6 kg). The carapace is rarely longer than 20 cm. A 10-cm crab contains approx. 100 g of meat.

Habitat:The edible crab lives a very stationary life on rocks or reefs. In summer it lives at a depth of 1 - 30 metres, in winter at a depth of 30 - 50 metres.

Feeding and diet:Their diet consists of clams and other benthic invertebrates.

Season:May be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:Is fished in lobster pots.

Fishing ground:North-eastern Atlantic, Opdræt

Size:The oyster lives to a maximum age of 20 - 30 years. In terms of normal market size, the 3- to 4-year old oysters are approx. 7 cm.

Habitat:The habitat of the oyster extends from the beach to a depth of approx. 20 metres. Oysters are distributed along the west coast of Europe from western Norway to the Mediterranean. In recent years oyster farming has been established in Denmark. The cultivation method is based on the rearing of oyster spat in plastic trays or nets, which are hung from buoys etc. The advantage of this method is that the shellfish grow rapidly, are free of sand and other base material, and they can be harvested at the correct time.

Feeding and diet:The oyster feeds on microscopic plankton, which it filters from the water. This way of life makes it vulnerable to pollution etc. If the waters are polluted, the plankton will absorb the contaminants and the oyster will accumulate plankton in the filtering process, hence also pollution.

Season:May be fished throughout the year.

Fishing techniques:They are fished with oyster scrapers and in breeding sites.