Louisiana Foods Fish Fact for:
HALIBUT

A new era dawned on halibut fishing on March 15, 1995 when a number of Alaska fishermen braved bad weather to harvest the first fish under the state's new Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) management system. The storm blowing off Kodiak that morning was nothing compared to the years of raging debates and controversies that led up to the initiation of ITQ where each fisherman owns shares of the fishery. (ITQs replace the derby-style system of unlimited entry and short openings.)

Fishing under ITQs may have begun, but the debate over them rages on. Several lobbying groups continue to protest ITQs, decrying what they say is the privatization of a public resource. Meanwhile, consumers win big, because fresh halibut is more available than ever before, thanks to ITQs.

Species Specifics
  • About 80% of North America's Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepsis) is harvested in Alaska (1995 quota: 38 million pounds), most of the rest in British Columbia and a small amount in Washington, Oregon and California.
  • The combined U.S.-Canada Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) catch remains around 2,000 tons.
  • In Russia, Pacific halibut is fished from the Gulf of Anadyr to the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula and in the Sea of Okhotsk. Often processed in Japan, it has increased dramatically in quality.
  • Studies by the International Pacific Halibut Commission have shown that the average weight of halibut at around 13 years old has declined by 50% since the early 1980s. They cite environmental reasons for the drop.
  • In Alaska and B.C., the new halibut season stretches from March 15 to November 15. Fishermen in Washington, Oregon and California have a series of four short openings.

Flatfish Fight
Greenland halibut, Reinhardtius hippoglossoides, has been at the heart of a vicious fish fight between Canada and the European Union. In March, Canadian patrol vessels captured a Spanish trawler, (it was later returned), and cut the trawls on another Spanish boat fishing just beyond Canada's 200 mile limit. Canadian officials claim the stocks are overfished, pointing to Spanish and Portuguese harvests of Greenland halibut that have soared from 5,000 to 50,000 tons in just three years.

Hatching Halibut
Norwegian halibut farming continues to boom. What started with two halibut in 1985 at the Austevoll Research Station resulted in a harvest of 300,000 fish in 1994. Norwegian farmers expect to produce 7,000 tons by 2005. Only the females are farmed, because they grow bigger faster, pounds in about 40 months.

The above information is from the Seafood Leader.
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