Apr 01 2008
Protecting the halibut – some pictures
Today I received some pictures from an unusual fishing trip in Norway. Fishing for halibut is exciting and the halibut is a precious and good tasting fish. Still someone prefers to release the halibut. Their concern for the halibut stock in the southern part of Norway has given them a new way of handling the catch.
Here we see Hans Harald Storli and Jon Henneli hauling the line. A small halibut (85 cm. long) has taken the bait.
Hans Harald is removing the fishing hook as carefully as possible. He is then placing a tag in the halibut.
This was not the only halibut caught on the long line. A couple of minutes later a bigger halibut entered the boat.
This one got tagged as well. You can see the red tag placed near the fins on the left side of the halibut. This fish was 140 cm. long; weighing 40 kg. A close up of its head can be seen below.
By measuring, weighing, tagging and recapturing tagged halibuts Hans Harald and Jon hope they can learn more about the local halibut stocks and their migration pattern. They do this on their spare time hoping that their work and engagement will result in better protection for the halibut stocks in the southern part of Norway.
After tagging the halibuts, the fish is released. To Hans Harald, Jon and their girlfriends – Kristine Kolbjørnsen and Malin Hagander – this gives a perfect ending to a perfect fishing trip.
All photos: Malin Hagander.
They don’t eat them?
I guess they’re doing this just for the halibut.
Sorry, I really can’t resist.
Especially on April Fool’s Day.
Thanks for comment Morgen. You’re right. They don’t eat them – not even on April Fool’s Day:)
But – they do eat other fish caught on the long line (cod, haddock, pollack, ling and so on).
[...] ago I got some pictures in my mailbox. The pictures were sent me by Torstein Halstensen who is an eager halibut-tagger. He uses a lot of his spare time and holidays to catch and tag halibut in order to get better [...]