Nice Tuna!

on a more serious note, this is some tuna..

Whopper tuna caught off Mullaghmore

The largest Tuna fish, caught off the north west coast of Ireland in the last 10years, was landed at Mullaghmore on Wednesday, 25 Sept.

The fish caught aboard the MV Kiwi Girl owned by Declan Kilgannon, from Grange north Sligo, was a whopping 628 pounder and 8.75 feet in length.

The tuna was taken to Greencastle for grading and weighing and will be professionally processed there before coming onto the market.

The M.V. Kiwi Girl is a Kingfisher Sport Hunter sea angling vessel available for hire.

It is powered by a Caterpillar 420HP engine with a maximum speed of 24 Knots. Kingfisher is renowned for building quality vessels for anglers who seek maximum safety and performance from their fishing machines. Built in 2005 the M.V Kiwi Girl was originally built for Big Game Tuna fishing.

Mr Killgannon was today unavailable for comment as he and his crew are again fishing offshore.

http://www.sligotoday.ie/details.php?id=27808

I thought it was landed in Mulloughmore? Plus is this not an endangered species and does a private vessel have a license to trade in this type of fish?

It was landed in mulloughmore and they dont need a license because they are not selling it.

we have been chatting about this here:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44484

It was landed in mulloughmore and they dont need a license because they are not selling it.

As I understand it, this fish was sold.

It was landed in mulloughmore and they dont need a license because they are not selling it.

As I understand it, this fish was sold.

What do you base your understanding on, Rob?

Rumors & hearsay!

I heard from a reliable source that it was sold. There's a piece in the Indo today about a 300lber caught off Portnoo in the last couple of days being sold to local restaurants too.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mo ... 22789.html

It just should not have been landed according to this -
http://sfpa.oghamtech.ie/News.aspx

john west would be proud of that one fine tuna well done to that angler

landing and selling these fish in Ireland illegal ? If so why is nothing done about it. are they protected? are they endangered? your thoughts please.

if its illegal then it should be pursued like anything else
as is well documented the resources for enforcement are so law that law breaking in terms of bass/salmon netting is well known but too difficult to cover

on a personal note I dont get why such a fine fish is taken, when so rare for a bit of paper/record

each to his own

Here is a statement on clarification on the legality of landing Tuna:

'From Susan Steele, Chair of the SFPA : “Ireland does not have a direct fishery for Bluefin Tuna in Ireland. Ireland does have a 1% by catch of Bluefin Tuna as part of the Northern Albacore fishery. The vessels that partake in the Northern Albacore fishery must obtain a specific fishing authorisation from the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine. For anyone engaged in sports or recreational sea angling this means that if a Bluefin Tuna is caught while sea angling it has to be immediately released as the fish cannot be targeted or landed by an Irish boat.’[/color]

Now this raises an interesting quetion about Bass. Surely if you apply the same logic then Bass caught from a boat by rod and line also has to be released as Ireland does not have a direct fishery for Bass??????

My own view is that these fish (Bluefin) should be protected as they are so scarce and endangered but i dont want to see anyone making up rules as they go along. Can anyone clarify if such rules exist for rod anglers and endangered species of fish and if so why they might apply to bluefin but not to bass when the above SFPA take on this situation arises.

Thanks

Caz

I agree Caz, just because we have no commercial quota should not rule out recreational angling. Also, the statement from the SFPA is a little bit ambiguous. They say that any Tuna caught should be immediately released, but you're only going to catch one of these fish if you are specifically targeting them. I heard that the SFPA were forced to make this statement by the EU after photos of the Mullaghmore fish were in circulation. For what it's worth, I think that we should be allowed for fish for these on a catch & release basis.

from the SFPA regarding BF tuna"Susan Steele, Chair of the SFPA said: “Ireland does not have a direct fishery for Bluefin Tuna in Ireland. Ireland does have a 1% by catch of Bluefin Tuna as part of the Northern Albacore fishery. The vessels that partake in the Northern Albacore fishery must obtain a specific fishing authorisation from the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine. For anyone engaged in sports or recreational sea angling this means that if a Bluefin Tuna is caught while sea angling it has to be immediately released as the fish cannot be targeted or landed by an Irish boat.'"


This is a comment from the boat owner/fisherman on his FB page "Offshore-Watersports Mullaghmore Big Game Fishing is Back with a bang on the NW coast of our Beautiful Island. First tagging of a Bluefin Tuna in 10 years in Irish waters. Any money raised from sale of the first Tuna Caught on rod and line in 8 years going towards research and a tagging programme. SFPA endorse catch and release fishing for these mighty giants and behind a tagging programme. And I'm going to need surgery to take the Grin of my face"

is this Irony at its full flow.

irony - oxymoron - whatever, that is nonsense!