Summer fishing falls flat as mackerel stay away from the west coast

Mackerel have been largely absent from the waters off Denmark’s west coast this July, disappointing anglers and raising concerns about overfishing.

Peter Jeske, an 86-year-old angler from Drensteinfurt, Germany, has fished off Thorsminde every summer since 1998. This year, he returned empty-handed.

“We’ve been here since Sunday and haven’t caught a single fish—not even a mackerel,” Jeske said. “Now we’ll have to pack up and drive the 720 kilometers home to Münsterland.”

Official catch records from the Danish angling database Fangstjournalen show that mackerel catches in July have been unusually low across Denmark. Teunis Jansen, a professor at DTU Aqua, attributes the decline to chronic overfishing of the species’ overall stock.

“We assess the total stock, and while there can be local fluctuations, the mackerel population as a whole is under threat,” Jansen said. “Years of commercial overfishing have damaged the stock, and now we’re seeing the consequences.”

In response, mackerel quotas for commercial fisheries in 2026 have been significantly reduced. Anglers in the North Sea must adhere to a minimum catch size of 30 centimeters, while those in Denmark’s inner waters face a 20-centimeter limit.

Jansen noted that localized concentrations of mackerel can still yield good catches under the right conditions, even if overall numbers are down.

Anglers targeting mackerel on the west coast typically recommend three days of easterly winds, warm temperatures, and sunshine to improve chances. Social media groups for mackerel anglers echo this advice, though catches have also been reported in eastern ports such as Frederikshavn, Sæby, and Kalundborg Havn despite westerly winds.