Halibut is an extremely interesting fish in the flounder family. Halibut is an incredibly delectable eating fish so it must have next-level survival skills... With eyes on the side and top of it's head and some of the greatest camouflage on the face of the earth, it's equipped to lie flat on the ocean floor, slightly burrowing itself into the sand, to basically completely disappear. Amazing!
Halibut using it's incredible camouflage defense. But only on one side!
Halibut is a firm yet very tender, non "fishy" fish that is low in fat, high in protein and is a good source of B12, B6, & B3 as well as potassium, selenium, & phosphorous. Kwee-Jack, who supplies our salmon, also supplies our Halibut. Kwee-Jack (Kvee-Shock, named after the Alaskan river; Kvichak) is a highly respectable company made up of a few friends from Wisconsin, Montana, & Pennsylvania that go to Alaska to fish for a hobby 6 weeks out of the year. They're our kind of people and we're proud to support them.
Most Halibut fishing done today is done using drag nets. Drag nets are aptly named as they drag the bottom of the ocean, scooping up halibut as well as a host of other non-target species. Drag net fishing not only bruises the halibut meat from the weight of all the fish in the net but it also greatly disturbs the ocean floor and it also kills a lot of other fish in the process.
As you'd expect, Northstar has much higher standards than that... one that not only preserves and protects the ocean and other fish but also preserves the eating quality of the halibut that are caught. Kwee-Jack uses a method called Long Lining. Long Lining is simple a series of hooks on a fishing line that are baited for halibut, cast out, and reeled in. Alaska has a very stringent size restriction on what size can be kept and what must be released so the fish that are under size are simply released without harm and the fish that are within the parameters to keep are immediately put on ice and taken to the cleaning boat where they are cleaned, packaged, and frozen within 12 hours of the catch. Long Lining isn't a good way to catch a lot of fish but it's the only way to catch fish in our opinion.
Alaska is an incredible place and we want to preserve it's bounties for generations to come.
