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

As the nets were hauled, we had hopes for the result although you never know anything for sure when it comes to the herring. The nets rose towards the surface and the first herring was glimmering in the sea. There were so much herring that the fishermen decided to haul the nets from the stern of the boat.

After an hour on the fishing ground we returned to the harbour. Some people were already waiting for fishing boats to come in with the catch. Buying herring in the harbour is an important tradition and the former importance of the herring fishery is not forgotten. The few fishermen that still participate in this fishery believe that the herring will stay on the fishing grounds for at least a week or two. I got my chance today – and it was a great experience.

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.

In 1986 the last school of bluefin tuna was surrounded by a Norwegian purse seine. Today the bluefin tuna is endangered – suffering from the pressure of commercial interests all over the world. Norway has a quota, but the Norwegian Department of Fishery has stated that Norway will not fish bluefin tuna until the stock is managed in a responsible way and in accordance with the advice and recommendations given by scientists.

Norway is familiar with overfishing, but the nation has learned by mistakes done in the past. Hopefully the bluefin tuna some day again will find its way northwards to the feeding areas along the Norwegian coast.

The season started in spring and the fishery was depended on calm sea. In the 18th century this was a dangerous fishery as the fishermen used hand harpoons and small boats on the open sea. Larger vessels and the harpoon gun (as seen on the film) made the fishery more efficient and safer. The harpoon was shot through the basking shark and the shark was then forced to the surface. In order to kill the shark the fishermen used a rifle and aimed for its head.

The Norwegian basking shark fishery has been history for a couple of decades and the basking shark is preserved in Norwegian waters.

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 picture above is taken in Seget Vranjica not far from Trogir. I will visit Trogir later this summer and hopefully I will learn more about the use of these boats and the traditional fishing gear.

The next picture shows a boat in Tucepi (a bit further southeast on the Croatian coastline). A lot of similar boats was seen in Tucepi and in the evening they left the harbour. The boats is then easily seen not far from the coast as the fishermen use lights to attract the prey. This way of fishing squids can be observed from late summer till late fall.