– We were very excited about what it looked like in this area now, and the main conclusion is that it looks like the cockroaches are back at the same level as before. This is what researcher Jan Sundet says, who is responsible for the population of cockle shells at the Institute of Marine Research.
Cockle shells are a subarctic scallop that grows slowly. At the end of the 80’s, there was an explosive development in fishing for cockle shells, and within two to three years, important fishing grounds for cockle shells were closed because they had been fished down. New analyzes now show that the cockle shell population is back in this area.
The researchers have used models and age reading of the cockle shells, and have calculated that a sustainable fishery will be about 15,000 tons of shells annually, the Institute of Marine Research states on its website.01