On this page you see photos of Torstein Halstensen working with halibuts. He is using long lines to catch them, and he is one of the few in Norway who knows just where to be sure to find the halibuts. The halibut is still a vounrable fish in Norway and the small spawning grounds has made the halibuts an easy prey for fishermen. Some spawning areas has not been found by fishermen and anglers, and Torstein helps the halibuts to keep them secret. The halibut fishery is restricted, but in the past it did not take the fishermen more than one season to over fish a spawning area. Torstein wants to find out more about the halibut and on this tagging experiment he is cooperating with the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) .

Here you see some of the halibuts beeing tagged. From 2003 till 2007 Torstein and Cathrine Michalsen (IMR) have tagged over 100 halibuts. The largest halibut was over 100 kilograms. Most of the halibuts are though small - less than 15 kilograms. So far (2007) 10 of the tagged halibuts has been recaught - some far from the area they were tagged, and some on the exact same place they were caught the first time. 5 halibuts were tagged with satellite tags, giving valuable information about the halibuts distribution. Fortunately the halibut stock is now doing much better in the northern part of Norway. Torstein hopes that the same will happen in the south - knowing that rebuilding the stock will take decades.

Hunting shark in Norway