On today’s episode, I’m tackling H is for Halibut and Habitat.
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Alright so Two weeks ago, I bought two pounds of fresh wild Alaskan halibut. FedEx brought the fish to my doorstep overnight. It was pearly white, glistening and smell clean and fresh. My first thought wasn’t about how I would prepare it, but that I wished I’d bought more! At the time I ordered two pounds seemed like a lot of fish for two people. I mean four-ounce portions is what I normally eat so we would have four meals right? But inside that box, those four eight ounce portions didn’t look like much at all.
Every Spring when I order wild Alaska halibut, I swear it is the. Best. Fish. and that I could eat it every day. And Elvis says, you’d get tired of it. But I just shake my head no and think you’re wrong.
But actually, he’s right, in a way. I wouldn’t get tired of it.
I only eat halibut in moderation for two reasons.

* One because of its status on the conservation list. And that depends on where it comes from.
* And two the price of the fish.

Halibut can be found in both the North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Greenland.
Pacific Halibut are found in Alaska and Canada are considered good alternatives by Seafood Watch and best choice by Environmental Defense Fund. And hey get this, as a side note, halibut is both wild and farm raised. Not that that should surprise you since more than half the fish we eat is farmed. We don’t farm halibut in Alaska but it is farmed in Canada. The farmed halibut doesn’t get the nod of approval for best choice at Seafood Watch because its feed is mostly wild fish and that my friends
And hey get this, as a side note, halibut is both wild and farm raised. Not that that should surprise you since more than half the fish we eat is farmed. We don’t farm halibut in Alaska but it is farmed in Canada. The farmed halibut doesn’t get the nod of approval for best choice at Seafood Watch because its feed is mostly wild fish and that my friends is not sustainable.
Now the halibut in the North Atlantic is a problem because of overfishing.
Get this, according to Seafood Watch, Atlantic halibut are expected to recover by the year 2056. But the peeps at Monterey Bay Aquarium aren’t exactly feeling all warm and fuzzy about this.
Jesus, in 2056, I’ll be 95 years old. That’s actually a little depressing—both the halibut recovery and my old age.
So should you eat halibut?
If you see Atlantic halibut at the market or online, pull a Nancy Reagan and just say no.
If it’s harvested from the North Pacific or Greenland then yes. In moderation. And if you can afford it.
For instance, that halibut I bought a few weeks ago? I paid $40 per pound which included shipping from Alaska. So yes, it’s a splurge. Well worth it. My mother in law always said, “chicken today, feathers tomorrow.” Thank you, Mama B.
The halibut we buy and eat in restaurants and at the market are landed on large commercial boats using a bottom longline. Other methods to fish halibut are bottom gill nets or trawls which produce a lot of bycatch. So that ‘s not sustainable. And remember I did B is for Bycatch a few months ago. So you can go back to iTunes or the GFBO site to listen to all that if you need more information.
Halibut are graded by size on the boat. Halibut range from 10-20 pounds, 20-30 pounds, and 40-50 pounds. Most are in the 20-30-pound range. Fishermen remove the head, creating a product called H & G for headed and gutted,