The halibut in Norway suffers from previous decades of over fishing. The situation is fortunately improving but strict regulation is still necessary if the stoch should be able to grow to former hights.
Torstein Halstensen has spent years tagging halibut from serveral areas in the souther part of Norway. He spend most of his spare time in a boat, fishing for halibut. By tagging, releasing and recapturing the fish he has added new knowledge about the migration pattern and behavior of halibut from different areas. Some fish are recaptured at the exact same position as it was tagged.
In an email Torstein tells about the finding of a spawning ground in a fjord. Torstein has interviewed a lot of old fishermen and searced through a lot of old documents in his search for traditional spawning grounds. One that has been forgotten for decades was recently re found by Torstein.
He does not share information about the locations of all the spawning grounds he has found. His work is done in order learn more about how we can protect the halibut – not as a guide for fishermen who want to fish as much halibut as possible.
The pictures in this post shows Torstein fishing halibut in a Norwegian fjord. All the halibut are being tagged and then released.
While the small ones can be lifted on board, the biggest must enter the boat from the stern.
Torstein has long experience in getting the halibut off the hook without causing damages to its mouth. Last year he caught the biggest male halibut ever in Norwegian waters. The last picture shows a halibut that is recaptured and then tagged by Torstein for the second time. Photos: Audun Skjølberg
I keep publishing films and this one is rather special. Allthough the quality is “average” it is a very rare film as it is from 1952 and in colors. It is also a unique documenation of the first years of fishing bluefin tuna with purse seine in Norway.
The film shows an ordinary Norwegian fishing vessel using a tuna purse seine. Allthough it seems primitive, this was how it was done in the early 1950’s. The fishing vessel gets a large catch and the catch is more than the vessel and the crew can handle. The captain calls for help, and when the film starts we can see that another vessel (named “Ådrott”) has arrived. With one vessel on each side of the purse seine the crew lift the tuna out of the purse seine.
When a bluefin tuna dies it sinks, and the weight of the dead fish in a large catch could make it impossible to lift the purse seine and the fish to the surface. The force of the heavy purse seine could also be a danger to the purse seiner and the crew. That is why we can see that a third vessel and two motor boats starts to tow the purse seiner and the catch while the vessel “Ådrott” still helps to stabilize the weight in the purse seine.
The heavy purse seine, the purse seiner and the vessel “Ådrott” are towed towards land, and when reaching shallow waters the purse seine with all the dead tuna is rested on the bottom. Then we can see how the fishermen are “fishing” for dead tuna in the purse seine. We can see several smaller boats helping out, and this film is recorded by a man in one of the motorboats that assisted the purse seiner.
1952 was the best year for bluefin tuna fishing in Norway. Catches of several hundred fish were not unusual. The tuna seen on the film have an average weight of 120 kilogram. Unfortunately the number of fish in this catch is not known. The catch was loaded on several vessels and landed on different locations. It is still likely to believe that there must have been more than 200 bluefin tuna in the catch.
The film shown below is recordet off the coast of Norway around 1970. Only adult bluefin tuna migrated to Norwegian waters in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The mean weight grew bigger year by year and in 1970 it was common to catch tuna weighing from 270 – 310 kilogram. A film of tuna fishing in 1967 shows slightly smaller fish (250 – 290 kilogram). The stock of bluefin tuna migrating northwards was fished down year by year till the last giant tuna was caught in 1986.
I was in the harbour when I head the sound of a boat coming in. It was Helge Selliken who had been out checking his fishing gear. With his four fish traps and three pots in the sea he usually got a lot of crabs and sometimes a cod – or two. Last fall he hoped to get a lobster, but without any results.
Today he met me with a big smile. I had to ask him; Did you get a lobster? He could not hide his smile and he nodded. Finally a lobster had visited one of his pots. In Norway it is only allowed to fish lobster in October, and with a lot of bad weather the season is short.
It was a nice lobster. Helge estimated it to be around 2 kilograms. Before he (and the lobster) left, he let me take some pictures of the catch.
The pictures in this post shows Torstein fishing halibut in a Norwegian fjord. All the halibut are being tagged and then released.
Torstein has long experience in getting the halibut off the hook without causing damages to its mouth. Last year he caught the biggest male halibut ever in Norwegian waters. The last picture shows a halibut that is recaptured and then tagged by Torstein for the second time. Photos: Audun Skjølberg
