Big game bonanza! — Angling Times

ANGLERS should soon be able to legally fish for Atlantic bluefin tuna off UK shores, with a realistic chance of catching them for the first time in more than a generation.

In a development that seemed inconceivable only a decade ago, charter boat customers look certain to be allowed to participate in a thriving British big game fishery, the likes of which hasn’t been seen for the better part of 70 years.

The exciting news comes after the EU gave the UK 0.25 per cent – almost 50 tonnes – of its international bluefin quota as part of the Brexit Deal. Initially modelled on the Republic of Ireland’s successful scientific catch-and-release-tagging (CHART) tuna fishery run on registered charter boats, these British fisheries could grow in size and scale over coming years.

**Anglers should soon be able to legally fish for Atlantic bluefin tuna off UK shores**

“Over the past two years experts from the recreational angling sector and the scientific community have worked tirelessly alongside civil servants to thoroughly address all the issues required to establish sustainable, world-leading recreational live-release Atlantic bluefin fisheries in UK waters,”

explained Steve Murphy, the driving force behind Bluefin Tuna UK, a campaign launched in late 2018 which called for a recreational catch-and-release fishery supporting scientific research.

Wide support

Since that launch, numerous MPs have lent their support to the proposals, as have charter skippers from the Professional Boatman’s Association and the Angling Trades Association, along with a number of its members.

The Angling Trust has been hugely supportive of the campaign, offering expert advice and participating in the process from the start. Its Head of Sea Angling, David Mitchell, welcomed the willingness of government department Defra to work with angling in an exercise that should, all being well, conclude in a ‘UK CHART’ programme.

“We’ve made excellent progress in making the case for a science-led tagging programme to be run this year (2021).
“We’ll be keeping anglers informed as this consultation process continues – hopefully with news that charter boats will be taking anglers out fishing for tuna as part of important ongoing scientific research into the species,” said David.

**Bluefin like this 300lb giant have been caught accidentally by charter skippers targeting sharks**

Future quotas

In the short term, launching bluefin fisheries off the south west of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Crown Dependencies Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man would not require much of the international quota be set aside to run CHART-style catch, tag and release fisheries.

And when angling tourism starts bringing in much-needed money to hoteliers, restaurants, tackle shops, fishing charters and other small local businesses in our coastal communities, there should be scope to grow those fisheries further by securing more international quota in the future.

“While the current focus is on how this 0.25 per cent of quota might best be employed in 2021, Defra will undoubtedly be considering a longer-term strategy and policy for Atlantic bluefin tuna going forward,” explained Steve Murphy.
“If this programme does get the go-ahead then all of the data it gathers will be useful in informing future policy. Socio-economic studies looking at the most profitable uses of this finite resource are going to be essential. And transferring some of the cost of scientific research from the taxpayer to charter businesses catering for paying anglers makes sound financial sense.”

Kit for the job

One thing is certain, the usual rulebook on tackle and techniques will need to be torn up for anglers to be able to hook and bring these hard-fighting ocean predators to the side of the boat for safe release.

With individual fish averaging over 300lb – and occasional specimens approaching three times that – tuna fishing in UK waters will be as close to an extreme sport as angling can get. Whether any of these fish will equal the current largest bluefin ever caught in UK waters – an 852lb specimen landed by John Hedley Lewis fishing out of Scarborough in September 1949 – remains to be seen. But if eyewitness accounts are reliable, then numerous fish in that size range have been spotted feeding in UK waters over the past four years.

One recreational sea angler who has witnessed first-hand the growing number of bluefin off UK shores is former Angling Times journalist Greg Whitehead, who now lives in Guernsey.

He said:

“I’ve fished all over the world and I’ve never seen anything like the bluefin feeding around the Guernsey coast these past four years. The most I’ve seen at once was a school of around 2,000 fish blitzing a four-hectare ball of whitebait. Myself and other boat-owning friends have regularly sat among 1,000-plus feeding bluefin.
“All you can hear is the roar of white water. The air reeks of fish oil and giant tuna almost hit the boat in the frenzy. It’s an amazing sight!”