The mussel fisheries catch mussel seed that are spread over mussel banks to grow. When the mussels are large enough, they are fished up and transported to the Oosterschelde. In the Oosterschelde, the mussel pumps out all of the sand. It then becomes a 'Zeeuws mussel'. When the shellfish is clean, the animal is fished up for the last time. Eventually, more than fifty million kilograms of mussels are brought on the market per year. In 1995, there were 94 mussel farming companies in the Netherlands. There are around 3100 hectares of mussel plots in the Wadden Sea.

Shrimp are caught along the North Sea coast and in the Wadden Sea. Most are boiled on board, frozen on land, sent to Morrocco where they are defrosted and shelled by women in large factories, refrozen, returned to the Netherlands and brought on the market. Per year, it is a matter of around 15 million kilograms. The shrimp fishing fleet in the Wadden Sea increased in size when the cod fishermen switched over to shrimp when the cod catches declined in the Dutch coastal waters. Of the total amount of shrimp brought to the fish auctions, more than half originate from the Wadden Sea.

Momentarily, only animals are fished in the Wadden Sea. In earlier times, eelgrass was also harvested. It was good material for dike sheeting; it was also used to plug leaks and to fill mattresses and cushions. In those days, one mowed the eelgrass fields and all floating material was collected. The fishery was called seaweed fishing. This form of fishery disappeared with the disappearance of the eelgrass fields.
Even the fisheries for anchovies and whelks used to earn money. And up till the 1930s, lots of thornback rays and stingrays were caught in the tidal channels. However, all of these species have since disappeared from the Wadden Sea, due to causes which are discussed in the chapters dealing with the individual animal species.