The wild mussel (Mytilus edulis) is a bivalve mollusk that lives up to 196 ft (60 m) deep in the English Channel. The natural mussel deposit of Barfleur, to the east of Cotentin, is the largest in France. It has five fishing areas (Barfleur, Grandcamp, Moulard, Ravenoville, and Réville) regulated and reserved for a specific number of boats from 32 to 52 ft (10 to 16 m) equipped with mussel dredges and carrying out very short tides. Every year since 1981, a prospecting campaign has made it possible to assess the resource and to adapt the days, times, and fishing quotas as well as the minimum size of capture. The quantity of mussels caught in Normandy thus varies between 2,000 and 5,000 tons per year.