One helluva halibut

A Danish fisherman last week landed a 190-kilogram (419 lb) halibut, the largest ever caught using a rod. The fish, caught off the coast of northern Norway, took an hour and a half to reel in and three men to get it into the boat, the Norwegian newspaper Nordlys reported.

“I thought something was wrong with the scales when it stopped at 190 kilos,” said Thomas Buge Nilsen who hooked the massive fish.

The halibut, which had to be moved by forklift, was 2.38 meters (7’9″) long, 1.26 meters (4’1″) wide and 35 centimeters (13.7 inches) thick.

Nilsen used pollock as bait and bottom fished, at a depth of about 40 meters.

Royal Greenland angered over change in energy policy

Greenland’s seafood processing giant, Royal Greenland, is threatening to shut down several shrimp plants if the country’s uniform pricing system for power ends.

The Home Rule Government wants to look at ending its longstanding policy that sees remote communities paying the same price for electricity, water and heating as consumers in Nuuk.

“As we see it, this proposal represents, in effect, an extra tax of DKK 25-30 million (about $5 million) on the fishing industry,” Royal Greenland’s director Henrik Leth told Greenland’s KNR radio news.

The company’s projected cost increase is far greater than the government’s estimate of about $1 million.

Leth told KNR that Royal Greenland’s competitors in Canada, Iceland and Norway all have access to cheap water and electricity.