Greenland halibut
Greenland halibut has snowy white meat and practically no risk of bones. The meat has a soft texture and a mild umami flavour.
The Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) is highly appreciated for its snowy-white meat with a delicate and soft texture. It is easy to cook with, recognised for its delicate flavour, and extremely rich in omega-3 fatty acids, making it a much sought-after delicacy.
Greenland halibut in the sea
Greenland halibut is found in the North Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean, from Canada in the west to Norway in the east. The Greenland halibut is a flatfish that is dark on the upper side and lighter on the belly. It has a set of sharp teeth for hunting its prey such as prawns, krill, capelin and redfish. The Greenland halibut is also known to prey on Atlantic cod, grenadier or squid. It lives near the bottom and prefers depths of 200-2,000 metres, where water temperatures remain below 4°C.
The stock in Western Greenland is considered to be healthy and stable.
Fishery
Greenland halibut is fished all year round, both inshore and offshore, and Royal Greenland fishes for Greenland halibut throughout the North Atlantic. The fishing can be classed as offshore and inshore.
Inshore, the local fishermen prefer the longline, which is a set of 1,200-2,500 hooks mounted on a single line, for catching Greenland halibut. The longline ensures Greenland halibut of high quality, because the fish is unhooked by hand, with minimum damage to the delicate meat.
Inshore the Greenland halibut can be fished using longline. The longline is very gentle to the fish and leaves almost no marks on the delicate flesh.
For offshore fishing of Greenland halibut, Royal Greenland fishes with trawl. The net itself is cone-shaped and designed to target Greenland halibut, with mesh sizes fitted to leave out juveniles. In addition, Royal Greenland supports the research and development of less invasive trawling methods, both for the seabed environment and with regard to the fishing vessels’ fuel consumption.
Processing
The processing of Greenland halibut begins at our Greenlandic factories and on board our vessels. The land-based factories are located as close to the harbour as possible, to provide the shortest route from sea to processing. At our land-based factories, the Greenland halibut is cut into different products, such as J-cut, fillets with and without skin, frills or head-on gutted. At sea, the two trawlers Sisimiut and Tuugalik are equipped to process the Greenland halibut as a J-cut before being frozen, or simply frozen as whole round fish.
After processing in our Greenlandic factories, the Greenland halibut is either sold to customers or shipped to one of our other factories for further processing.
In Poland, the fish is delivered either as fillets or head-on gutted. Here, the Greenland halibut is typically processed into smaller cuts such as loins and portions.
Royal Greenland processes Greenland halibut in Koszalin, where our skilled colleagues expertly handfillet the larger fish delivered from Greenland.
