Atlantic Halibut
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[edit] Introduction to the Atlantic Halibut
The Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus, is a flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. It is a demersal fish that lives on sand, gravel or clay bottoms at depths of between 50 and 2,000 metres (160 and 6,600 ft). Its native habitat is the temperate waters of the northern Atlantic, from Labrador and Greenland to Iceland, the Barents Sea and as far south as the Bay of Biscay. It is the largest flatfish in the Atlantic and one of the largest species of flatfish in the world, with males reaching lengths of up to 4.7 metres (15 ft) and weights of 320 kilograms (710 lb). Its lifespan can reach 50 years
[edit] Atlantic Halibut Status
The Atlantic halibut was formerly a very important food fish, but due to its slow rate of population growth it is unable to recover quickly from overfishing, and the fishery has largely collapsed. Consequently, fish labelled as "halibut" is usually one of the other large flatfishes, often Pacific halibut, Hippoglossus stenolepis.
[edit] Diet
The diet of the Atlantic halibut consists mainly of other fish, e.g. cod, haddock, herring, pogge, sand eels and capelin, but it will also eat cephalopods, large crustaceans and other benthos organisms.
[edit] Predators
Atlantic halibut are eaten by seals, and are a staple food of the Greenland shark.
[edit] Conservation status
Following overfishing the Atlantic halibut now faces a high risk of extinction in the wild, and in 1996 the IUCN rated it as Endangered and placed it on its Red List.
The Atlantic halibut is a U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern. Species of Concern are those species about which the U.S. Government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, has some concerns regarding status and threats, but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act(ESA). The American Fisheries Society has classified the species as "Vulnerable".
In 2010, Greenpeace International has added the atlantic halibut to its seafood red list. "The Greenpeace International seafood red list is a list of fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries." Greenpeace International Seafood Red list
- Atlantic, or white, halibut stocks are overfished throughout the NW and NE Atlantic
- Atlantic halibut is now listed as Endangered
- Halibut is caught using a variety of destructive fishing methods including bottom trawling, gill netting and longlining, all of which are associated with high bycatch including marine mammals
- This species is also slow-growing and late to mature, which makes it vulnerable to over-fishing
[edit] Farming
Due to its popularity as a food fish, Atlantic halibut has attracted investment in fish farming. As of 2006, five countries - Canada, Norway, the UK, Iceland and Chile - were engaged in some form of Atlantic halibut aquaculture production.
