The fishing industry in Denmark operates around the coastline, from western Jutland to Bornholm. While the overall contribution of the fisheries sector to the country's economy is only about 0.5 percent, Denmark is ranked fifth in the world in exports of fish and fish products. Approximately 20,000 Danish people are employed in fishing, aquaculture, and related industries.
Denmark's coastline measures about in length, and supports three types of fishery industries: for fish meal and fish oil, pelagic fishery for human consumption, and the demersal fishery for white fish, lobster and deep water prawns. The key ports for demersal fishing are Esbjerg, Thyborøn, Hanstholm, Hirtshals, and Skagen. The North Sea and Skagen account for 80% of the catches.
The Danish fishing fleet is noted for its economic democracy: the value of the catch is shared by everyone on the ship according to a pre-set scale, and this system unites the whole crew's interest in returning the largest possible catch.
History
The fishing industry in Denmark is a main source of income to households. While fishing is a practice noted from the Medieval times, particularly in the coastal area of Denmark for eel fishing with woven traps, the earliest innovation in fisheries wasn't recorded until 1849 when the Danish seine or anchor seine technique of fishing was introduced resulting in unprecedented quantities of fish catch from the Limfjord.
During 1856, the Danish Royal Trade Monopoly that was practiced since 1709 was annulled. In 1872, the first fishing vessels started operating in East Iceland when ship made of steel made in England replaced the wooden vessels. This created many new opportunities for the Faroese, and played an important part in the development of the Faroese fishing industry. This method of fishing spread to Esbjerg on the south-west Jutland coast in 1880 when transportation using rail links facilitated export to Europe. Esbjerg became a popular site for all Danes for fishing plaice in early 1900 when motorized boats were also introduced for the operations. During 1939–40, the Tórshavn Shipyard in Faroes built the 'Vónin' (Hope) which was the first ship of Denmark. From 1920 to 1950, the fishing vessels known as the blue ships of Denmark were conspicuously plied for deep-sea fishing in the North Sea. Now, Danish seine is considered a major fishing technique in the world. In the 20th century, deep sea fishing came to dominate the scene. However. this has not discouraged the use of long line fishing technique with use of several hooks on short lines that are attached to a main line.
In 1903, the fishery limit for the Faroe Islands was 3 nautical-miles under an agreement signed between Denmark and Great Britain. In 1959, it was extended to 12 nautical miles and Denmark officially implemented this policy from 1964. In 1978, the 200-nautical mile limit came into force, which is now in vogue, on the same lines as adopted by North Atlantic nations.
Fishing categories
Three broad categories of fishing in Denmark are industrial fishery, fishery for human consumption (also known as pelagic fishing), and demersal fishery. Industrial fishing is for industrial use of producing fish oil and fish meal. Initially, Industrial fishing using trawlers began in the 1940s with herring fishing in the North Sea. Over time, other fish species included sand eel, Norway pout, blue whiting and sprat (sprat in Skagerrak/Kattegat and in the Baltic Sea). By 1993, the percentage of sand eel was about 70%, when the total industrial fish catch was 1.2 million tons. However, in terms of cash value, cod fish was a better catch. This type of fishing is also found to be overall remunerative as it contributes to 27% in financial value from 77% of catch.
For human consumption, the fish species caught are cod, plaice and herring and also species such as hake, dover sole, and turbot. In deep waters, fish species caught are Norway lobster, deep water prawn, and common mussels. In terms of financial value, the fish species of interest, in the order of precedence, are cod, sand eel, plaice, herring and Norway lobster. Stocks of eel has declined since 1970. Method of fishing in this type of fishing practice involves use of stationary or dredging gear, gillnets and pound nets, traps and hooks while for catching mussels special dredgers are adopted.