A halibut is a type of flatfish from
the family of the right-eye flounders (Pleuronectidae).
This name is believed to be derived from Dutch heilbot. Halibut live in both the North Pacific and
the North Atlantic oceans and are highly regarded food fish.
The Ladies show off their catch of halibut.
Physical Characteristics of The Halibut Fish
The Halibut is the largest of all flat fish, with an average weight of about 25 lb – 30 lb,
they can grow to be as much as 600 lbs. The Halibut is blackish-grey on the top side and off-white on the underbelly
side. When the Halibut is born the eyes are on both sides of its head so it has
to swim like a salmon. After about 6 months one eye will migrate to the other side of its head, making
it look more like the flounder. This happens at the same time that the stationary eyed side begins to develop
a blackish-grey pigment while the other side remains white. This disguises a
halibut from above (blending with the ocean floor) and from below (blending into
the light from the sky).
Halibut feed on almost any animal they can fit
in their mouths. Animals found in their stomachs include sand lamce, octopus,
crab, salmon, hermit crabs, lamprey, sculpin, cod, pollock, herring and flounder.
Halibut can be found at depths as shallow as a few meters to hundreds of meters
deep, and although they spend most of their time near the bottom, halibut will
move up in the water
column to feed. In most ecosystems the halibut is near the top of the marine
food chain. In the North Pacific the only common predators of halibut are the
sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), the orca
whale (Orcinus orca), and the salmon
shark (Lamna ditropis).
Commercial halibut fishery in the North Pacific dates to the late 19th century and today is one of the largest
and most lucrative fisheries in the region. In Canadian and U.S. waters of the
North Pacific, halibut are taken by longline,
using chunks of octopus (”devilfish”) or other bait on circle hooks
attached at regular intervals to a weighted line that can extend for several
miles across the bottom. Typically the vessel
hauls gear after several hours up to a day has passed.
Careful international management
of Pacific halibut is necessary, as the species occupies the waters of the United
States, Canada, Russia, and possibly Japan (known to the Japanese as Ohyo), and is
a slow-maturing fish. Halibut do not reproduce until age eight, when they are approximately 30 inches (76 cm) long, so commercial
capture of fish below this length is an unsustainable practice and is against
U.S. and Canadian regulations. Halibut fishing in the Pacific is managed by the
International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC).
For most of its modern duration, commercial halibut fishery operated as a derby-style fishery where regulators
declared time slots when fishing was open (typically 24-48 hours at a time) and
fisherman raced to catch as many pounds as they could within that window. This
approach accommodated unlimited participation in the fishery while allowing regulators
to control the quantity of fish caught annually by controlling the number and
timing of openings. The approach frequently led to unsafe fishing as openings
necessarily set in advance and fisherman felt compelled economically to leave
port virtually regardless of the weather. The approach also provided fresh halibut
to the markets for only several weeks each year.
In 1995, regulators in the United States implemented a quota-based fishery by allocating individual
fishing quotas (IFQs) to existing fishery participants based on each vessel’s
documented historical catch. IFQs grant holders a specific proportion of each
year’s total allowable catch (TAC) as determined by regulators and can be fished
at any time during the 9-month open season. The IFQ system improved both the
safety of the fishery and the quality of the product by providing a stable flow
of fresh halibut to the marketplace. Critics of the program suggest that, since
IFQs are a saleable commodity and the fish a public resource, the IFQ system
gave a public resource to the private sector. Would-be fisherman who were not
part of the initial IFQ allocation are also critical of the program saying that
the capital costs to fishery entry are now too high.
There is also a significant sport fishery in Alaska and British
Columbia where halibut are a prized game and food fish. Sport fisherman use
large rods and reels with line weights from 80 to 150 pound test, and often bait
with herring, large jigs, or even whole salmon heads. Halibut are very strong,
thus in both commercial and sport fisheries large halibut (over 50 to 100 pounds
(20 to 50 kg)) are often shot or otherwise subdued before they are brought onto
the boat. The sport fishery in Alaska is one of the key elements to the state’s
summer tourism economy. Halibut are typically broiled, deep fat fried or lightly
grilled while fresh. The fillets can also be smoked but this method is more difficult
with halibut meat than it is with salmon, due to the ultra-low fat content of
halibut. Eaten fresh, the meat has a very clean taste and requires little seasoning.
Halibut is also noted for its very dense and firm texture, almost more akin to
Pacific Ocean Halibut
Halibut have been an important food source to Native
Americans and Canadian First Nations for thousands of years and continue to be a key element to many coastal
subsistence economies. The management of the halibut resource to accommodate
the competing interests of commercial, sport, and subsistence users is a contentious
The Atlantic Fishery of halibut has been extremely depleted through
overfishing to such an extent that it may possibly be declared an endangered
species. According to Seafood
Watch, Atlantic halibut is currently on the list of fish that American consumers,
who are sustainability minded, should avoid. Almost all halibut now bought on
the East coast are now Pacific halibut.
Species commonly known as “halibut”
- Family Carangidae (jack family, not a flatfish)
- Australian halibut, Parastromateus niger
- Family Paralichthyidae
- California halibut, Paralichthys californicus
- Bastard halibut, Paralichthys olivaceus
- Family Pleuronectidae
- Arrowtooth halibut, Atheresthes evermanni
- Shotted halibut, Eopsetta grigorjewi
- Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus
- Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis
- Greenland halibut, Reinhardtius hippoglossoides
- Spotted halibut, Verasper variegatus
- Family Psettodidae
- Indian halibut
Clover, Charles. 2004. The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing
the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London.
All text is available under the terms of the GNUFree Documentation License.
The Commercial Halibut Industry
Pacific halibut commercial fishing began in the late 1880s with the movement
of the Atlantic halibut fleet to the Pacific to pursue the large stocks found along the coast of Washington and Vancouver Island. From a small fishery off Cape Flattery,WA and the southern end of Vancouver Island, B.C., it expanded rapidly in protected inside waters, and by 1910, extended some 700 miles northward to Cape Spencer in southeastern Alaska. Subsequent expansion extended the fishery both south and north and out to the offshore banks throughout the known range of halibut on the American side of the Pacific, from northern California to Bering Sea, a
distance of over 2,000 miles.
By 1914 there were efforts to reduce the effort as well as the length of the
season. The halibut industry petitioned to both governments to manage and control
the fishery. Efforts to consummate a treaty in 1919 were unsuccessful, but the
halibut industry persisted in advocating international control. In 1922, another convention was drafted that excluded the sensitive provisions of port-use and tariffs, and Canada and the United States signed the Convention for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean on March 2, 1923. The treaty of 1923 was also noteworthy in that it was the first treaty to be
concluded anywhere for the conservation of a depleted deep-sea fishery.
The Convention went into effect on exchange of ratifications on October 23,
1924. It provided for a 3- month closed season during the winter and for regations
concerning halibut caught incidentally during the closed season. The Convention
also created an International Fisheries Commission of four members. Each country
was to pay the expenses of its two Commissioners, and expenses of the Commission
and staff were to be shared equally by the contracting parties. The Commission
was charged with studying the life history of halibut and with recommending regulations for the preservation of the resource and development of the fishery. Subsequent
treaties in 1930, 1937, and 1953, as well as a 1979 protocol to the
convention, left much of the original intent and wording in effect.
Throughout the first four decades of the halibut fishery, the IPHC managed
the length of season to control the effort, and the quotas, within the fishery.
In 1975 the season was 125 days long, but as improving fisheries stock and price
conditions increased effort and demand, the season shrank to nearly 25 days by
1985. Nearly a decade later in 1994 the season had shrunk to fewer than three days for a majority of the U.S. fishery.
In 1991 the Canadian government adopted individual vessel quotas (IVQ) to
manage the fishery. Subsequent to this, in 1995, the U.S. adopted the individual
fishing quota (IFQ) system. The commercial halibut fishery is now allocated to
vessels and individuals respectively and the resulting fishery is currently managed
on a nearly nine-month season. The results of this change in the fishery are
positive and have resulted in a) increased value for the fishery, b) less wastage,
and c) increased safety for the coast-wide fleet.
International Pacific Halibut Commission
The Commission, circa 1940 Biological data collection for stock assessment purposes, circa 1970
Barkley Adventure Station thanks the International Pacific Halibut Commission
for this article.