Sport fishing rules and regulations: Sea fishing

Fishing permits or other licences are not required either for deep sea fishing or fishing from the shore provided that you follow a set of simple rules:

• Respect the minimum fish sizes specified. (See table below.)
• Foreign tourists are only permitted to use hand-held tackle for angling.
• Tourists are permitted to take up to 15 kg of fish or fish fillets and one (whole) trophy fish out of the country. This export-restriction does not apply for tourists who buy directly from commercial fishermen.
• You must keep a distance of more than 100 metres from the closest fish farm when fishing.
• Foreign tourists are not permitted to sell their catch.
• Eel and spiny dogfish are preserved species in Norway. 

Minimum fish sizes

In order to preserve Norwegian fish stocks we encourage everyone to avoid catching fish that are under the minimum size specified.

If you do catch a fish that is smaller than the minimum size, free it carefully from the hook and release it into the sea. If the fish is dead or is clearly not capable of surviving, you can keep it to eat. 

The length of the fish is measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the outermost points of the tail fin.

A complete table of minimum fish sizes and up-to-date regulations for fishing in the Norwegian sea are available on the Directorate of Fisheries website.