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Fishermen Reel In 533-pound Halibut;
May Be Largest Ever
POSTED: 10:21 a.m. EDT September 12, 2003
ANCHORAGE –(AP)- What might be the largest Pacific halibut ever documented
was pulled from the Bering Sea off St. Paul Island by the crew of the fishing
boat Miss Mary.
The 8-foot, 2-inch
behemoth was estimated at 533 pounds -- based on its length, according to
crewman Barry Davis of Anchorage. He provided photographs of the fish taken
aboard the long liner skippered by his brother, Pat, from Seattle.
No official records are kept on
the size of commercially caught halibut in Alaska, but the Alaska Department of
Fish and Game's Wildlife Notebook Series says the "largest ever recorded
for the Northern Pacific was a 495-pound fish caught near Petersburg."
The International Pacific Halibut
Commission, which manages halibut in the North Pacific, pegs the largest fish
at an estimated 500 pounds.
The fish caught on Sept. 5 was two
inches longer, at 98 inches. It outweighs by almost 75 pounds the sport-fishing
record, set by Jack Tragis of Fairbanks near Dutch Harbor in 1996. That halibut
tipped the scales at 459 pounds.
The Alaska Fisheries Science
Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service claims halibut grow to more
than 600 pounds but there is no evidence of anyone ever having seen such a fish
in the Pacific. In the Atlantic there are reports of 9-foot-long flatfish
weighing 700 pounds.
The fish was eventually delivered
to a processor, or most of it was delivered.
"We're going to get the tail
mounted," Davis said. The tail alone measures 24 1/2 inches across.
Find
a couple of great Halibut Recipes
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Posted September 12, 2003