First line caught bluefin tuna landed in the top port of Newlyn.

 

Four years in the planning and the wait is over, the 'A' Team, Andrew Pascoe and skipper Adam Harvey shove off the Prospector before heading out on...

their first licensed bluefin tuna trip. The license imposes strict fishing conditions and designated landing ports, they must only use rods and lures as seen here here held up by Andrew, as agreed between fishermen in the South West Handline Fishermen's Association, Defra and the MMO...

within the first few hours they had caught - and lost - their first fish working close to the western shore of Mounts Bay so the decision was taken to steam out of the bay and the Longships lighthouse off Lands End where they sighted around 30 bluefin feeding near the surface - while trolling from rods through the school a single bluefin was caught on the brightly coloured lures - these fish require very careful handling once caught so as to maintain the highest possible quality of fish - hence the protective bag - the fish was gilled, gutted and the cavity filled with ice to cool the core of the body before being covered in more ice and sealed up inside the specially made giant holdall type bag...

once alongside the fish market...

the 92" long fish estimated, according to the MMO chart provided...

to weigh around 450-500lb...

traditionally, tuna are lifted from the boat to the quay using a strop around the huge tail fin...

providing skipper Adam (left) and crew Andrew with a record of their acheivment...

within minutes of being landed...

on to a pallet...

the fish was weighed in at 270kg...

and iced heavily in readiness for the fish auction. The fish actually weighed 245kg and made a sale price of £14.23 per kilo which works out at £3, 486. Two other SWHFA members were also successful, one landed a 195kg in Hayle and the other member landed in Looe with a modest 48kg fish. 

Tuna fishing globally is controlled by the International Commission for the Control of Atlantic Tuna (ICAAT). They control tuna quota internationally. Their science and stock assessment controls all Bluefin Tuna (BFT) Quota. A fisheries plan was submitted to them before license authorisation could be issued. The BFT have been increasing in UK waters for 8 years and the fishery has been opened because stock is so good. Bluefin tunas have been caught in the UK since the 1930's with the Tunny Club of Great Britain founded in Scarborough in 1933. There is also an MSC bluefin tuna fishery for Atlantic bluefin. Inshore boats catching with hook and line a small number of mature adult tuna on a very limited, well managed quota with a strict limit on licence numbers. As with other commercial fishing activities SWHFA and the CSMA promotes sustainable fisheries based around best scientific advice.

Top handline fisherman Andrew is no stranger to catching tuna, him and brother David, both schoolboys at the time, spent two days luring and eventually catching this big-eyed tuna in Newlyn harbour back in 1985...

 and, at 66lb it remains the UK record...

its seems the Pascoe fishing genes get about a bit, here is Donna Pascoe in NZ after landing her record breaking 907lb Pacific bluefin in 2020 off Auckland.

Owing to the late approval from Defra and the MMO, the ten licensed boats, four of them in the SWHFA have just over seven weeks until November the 30th to catch the 30.9 tons they have been allocated between them. The season was officially opened on August the 1st this year and will do so again next.