Minimum Sizes Introduced in Norway
By Rune | January 1st, 2010 | Category: Featured articles | No Comments »
From January 1st, 2010 the regulations regarding minimum sizes for salt water fish will apply to sports and tourist fishing in Norway.
All sport fishers should therefore study the minimum size that apply in good time before the next fishing trip. The regulations can be found bellow.
Mackerel and Saithe exempted
Mackerel that is caught with hooks or nets and saithe for your own consumption or for use as bait is exempted from the regulation of minimum size. This will among other things mean that children’s sport fishing from or near the shore will not be hindered by the new regulations.
Undersized fish must be released
If you are unlucky and catch undersized fish, you shall carefully unhook it, and release it into the sea again. If the fish is dead, or it is obvious that it will not survive, you can however, bring it home and eat it.
Targeted fishing for undersized fish may be punished, but the main target of the new regulation is not to punish people. The introduction of minimum sizes is to change the sport fishing habits, so that one to a lesser degree will catch small fish.
However, fishing for undersized saithe and mackerell to be used as bait, or for own consumption is still legal. This is mainly not to undermine childrens access to and joy of fishing.
Adjust your fishing so that you do not catch undersized fish.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries is appealing to all fishermen to adjust your fishing with the thought of avoiding the catch of undersized fish. Good measures could be increased net mesh sizes, increased hook sizes or move your fishing activities to other areas.
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CHAPTER IX. MINIMUM SIZES AND MEASURES TO LIMIT CATCHES OF
FISH UNDER THE MINIMUM SIZE
Section 43. Minimum sizes
It is prohibited to catch fish below the following sizes:
1. Halibut 80 cm
2. Cod
a) north of 64˚N 47 cm
b) south of 64˚N 40 cm
3. Haddock
a) north of 64˚N 44 cm
b) south of 64˚N 31 cm
4. Hake 30 cm
5. Plaice
a) in the area delimited in section 3, items 1, 2 and 3 (outside the
Skagerrak) 29 cm
b) in the area delimited in section 3, item 4 (the Skagerrak) 27 cm
6. Witch 28 cm
7. Dab 23 cm
8. Lemon sole 25 cm
9. Sole 24 cm
10. Turbot 30 cm
11. Brill 30 cm
12. Megrim 25 cm
13. Whiting 32 cm
14. Flounder 20 cm
15. Eel
The fishing of Eel is prohibited.
16. Saithe
a) north of 62˚N 45 cm
b) south of 62˚N 40 cm
c) when fishing for saithe using purse seines, the following minimum
sizes apply:
− in the area north of the southernmost point of Lofotodden and from
there bearing due west, the mainland side of the Lofoten Islands and
further inwards to the head of the Ofotfjord with the adjoining fjords.
In open sounds on the mainland side of the Lofoten Islands and in
the Ofotfjord, the area is delimited by the following lines:
True west from Sund lighthouse in the Sundstraumen, true west from
Grænvika lighthouse in the Nappstraumen, true west from Lyngvær
north lighthouse in the Grimsøystraumen, true west from
Digermulen lighthouse in the Raftsundet, true east from Lødingen
lighthouse in the Tjeldsundet, and true west from Ramnesodden in the Ramsundet. 42 cm
− between Lofotodden as described above and 62˚N 40 cm
− in the area between 66˚33’N and 62˚N
The Directorate of Fisheries may decide that the minimum size of 35
cm shall cease to apply when it is calculated that 3000 tonnes of
saithe under 40 cm in length has been fished in this area in a particular regulatory year. 35 cm
− South of 62˚N within four nautical miles of the baselines 32 cm
d) When fishing for saithe for personal consumption, the following
minimum size applies throughout the country 32 cm
17. Spiny dogfish 70 cm
18. Greenland halibut 45 cm
19. Angler (monkfish) when gill-netting 60 cm
20. Redfish (Sebastes mentella) 32 cm
21. Mackerel 30 cm
22. Herring caught in the area delimited in section 3, item 4 (the
Skagerrak), with the exception of Norwegian fjord herring caught less
than two nautical miles from the baselines 18 cm
23. North Sea herring 20 cm
24. Norwegian spring-spawning herring 25 cm
25. Trondheimsfjord herring 23 cm
Capelin
a) North of 62˚N 11 cm
b) In the fisheries zone around Jan Mayen 12 cm
27. Shrimps 6 cm
28. Norway lobster 13 cm
29. Crabs 13 cm
30. Crabs along the stretch of coastline from Rogaland to the border with
Sweden 11 cm
31. Iceland scallop in the counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark 6.5 cm
32. Lobster 25 cm
33. Red king crab in an area in eastern Finnmark where catches are
regulated by quotas 13.7 cm
34. Great scallop 10 cm
Section 44. Measurement of fish
(1) The length of fish shall be measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the tail
fin.
(2) The length of spiny dogfish shall be measured from the tip of the snout to the
posterior edge of the upper tail lobe.
(3) The length of lobsters and Norway lobsters shall be measured from the tip of the
rostrum to the posterior edge of the middle swimming appendage.
(4) Shrimps shall be measured from the anterior edge of the eye to the posterior edge
of the telson.
(5) Crabs shall be measured across the greatest breadth of the carapace.
(6) Iceland scallops shall be measured through the longest diameter from the hinge to
the opposite edge of the shell.
(7) Great scallops shall be measured along the greatest length of the shell.
(8) Red king crabs shall be measured from the inner end of the eye socket to the
hollow in the posterior edge of the carapace.
(9) Notwithstanding section 43, items 27, 28 and 32, the carapace length may also be
measured for shrimps, Norway lobsters and lobsters. The carapace length for shrimps
(1.5 cm), Norway lobsters (4 cm) and lobsters (9 cm) shall be measured from the
posterior edge of the eye socket to the posterior edge of the carapace, measured along
the longitudinal axis of the animal.
Section 45. Exceptions from the provisions on minimum sizes
(1) The minimum sizes prescribed in section 43 do not apply to fish for personal
consumption. However, this exception does not apply to lobsters and great scallops.
(2) The minimum sizes prescribed in section 43, item 16, do not apply to saithe
caught for private use as bait. The Directorate of Fisheries may in special cases grant
exemptions relating to catches of saithe for use as bait by others.
(3) The minimum size prescribed in section 43, item 21, does not apply to fishing
with nets and hooks, nor to mackerel caught by seining and stored in lock seines and
that is to be used for human consumption.
(4) In the area delimited in section 3, item 4 (the Skagerrak), the minimum size
prescribed in section 43, item 21, applies only to mackerel to be used for other
purposes than human consumption or bait.
(5) The Directorate of Fisheries may in special cases grant exemptions from the
provisions relating to minimum size for mackerel and eels (yellow and silver eels).