Record-size, Centuries-old Rockfish Caught in Alaska
OutdoorHub Reporters 07.02.13
Update 7-8-2013: the rockfish has been confirmed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to be roughly 64 years old, not two centuries.
Off the waters of Sitka, Alaska, Henry Liebman pulled in a living artifact. According to the Sitka Sentinel, the Seattle angler frequently visits the area to charter fish in Alaska’s pristine northern waters. Last week Liebman made the catch of a lifetime when he landed a 39.1-pound shortraker rockfish, beating the previous Alaskan state record by six ounces.
Liebman was in the company of anglers guided by Captain David Gross of the charter company Angling Unlimited when he made the record catch. Liebman had hooked rockfish before and he knew that they lived at extreme depths. The area where the anglers set out bait was roughly 850 feet deep. It just so happened that one of the deep’s oldest denizens took Liebman’s bait, weighing an initial 45 pounds even when crew members hauled it aboard .
“I knew it was abnormally big (but I) didn’t know it was a record until on the way back we looked in the Alaska guide book that was on the boat,” Liebman said.
With a long-lived species like rockfish, size is not the only consideration. When the catch was brought ashore, Alaska Department of Natural Resources Area Manager Troy Tidingco estimated the fish to be at least 200 years old–meaning that the rockfish was alive before the purchase of Alaska in 1867.
Little is known about the lives of rockfish, save that the species is well distributed from eastern Russia to the coast of northern California. Rockfish prefer deeper waters and live primarily on the ocean floor along steep, boulder-lined slopes. Scientists believe that the rockfish is one of the longest-lived of saltwater Pacific fish, with a maximum age of 120 years. If Liebman’s catch is confirmed to be 200 years old, it would easily be recognized as the oldest of its species. Samples of the rockfish have been collected and sent to a lab in Juneau, where the age of the fish will be determined.
“I never anticipated holding a record,” said Liebman. “It’s been a fun experience and I hope they can manage the resource because it’s worth protecting.”
As for the fish itself, it will be going home to Washington with Liebman, who plans on having it mounted.
