Blue fin tuna being caught and sold under new licences

This breaching tuna was photographed off Berry Head in Devon in October by Ray Harrington of Devon Sea Safaris who said he has seen increasing numbers

Fishermen have been catching and selling blue fin tuna from UK waters on a trial basis.

A pilot fishery started in August, with seven of 10 licences going to fishermen in Cornwall and two in Devon.

The species is newly returned and stocks have been increasing in recent years, with researchers and the government closely monitoring levels.

They can be 10ft (3m) long, weigh more than 1,000llbs (454kg) and some this year have sold for more than £3,000.

It can take two hours to bring a blue fin tuna in using a rod and line

Andrew Pascoe, a Newlyn fisherman and chairman of the South West Handline Fisherman's Association, has been involved in developing the fishery since they were first seen 10 years ago.

He said: "Every year, they have been increasing in numbers.

"[It's got] to the point this year there are thousands of them.

"They are big, beautiful beasts and they are teeming around our coast at the moment."

The first tuna Mr Pascoe (right) caught on the Prospector was 92 inches (2.3m), weighed 245kg (540 llbs) and sold for £3,486

The pilot fishery started on 5 August and was scheduled to finish at the end of November.

It has been extended by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) by a month due to poor weather conditions making it difficult for the boats to get out over the autumn.

There are strict limits on quota, with each of the 10 licensed boats permitted 3.9 tonnes in total, and to catch no more than three of the fish on any one day.

All the fish are caught using specialist rods and lines with no live bait. It can take up to two hours to bring the huge creatures in.

The licences were issued by Defra on a trial basis after two years of recreational fishing for the species on a catch and release tagging (CHART) programme.

The fishing is closely monitored, with the MMO at the quayside every time one is caught

The programme caught 700 in the first year, and 1,000 in the second year, mirroring what fishermen were seeing at sea with stocks rising.

The evidence gathered was referred to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which determined the quota and authorised Defra to issue the licences.

The 10th licence was granted to fishermen in Scotland, Mr Pascoe said.

Mr Pascoe added: "This fishery is probably the most regulated fishery in the UK.

"We can't come in from sea without calling in first that we have got one on board, and the MMO officers are on the quay when we get back to measure the fish and make sure everything is above board.

"It is a highly sustainable fishery. There is no way we can damage stocks of blue fin tuna when there are so many in our waters."

The size of the tuna means they have a big appetite and are causing problems for some traditional fisheries, including mackerel, bass and squid.

Fish merchants have been selling the tuna

"The hand-liners in St Ives at the moment for instance are having real problems with every time they pull a line full of mackerel up, tuna comes alongside and pulls the mackerel off", Mr Pascoe said.

The biggest tuna he has caught on board one of the licensed vessels, Prospector, is 245kg (550llbs).

Slightly bigger than that, is the 247kg fish caught by the fellow licensed Newlyn vessel Lyonesse in October.

That one was bought in its entirety by chef Bruce Rennie for more than £2,000 to serve to customers at his Shore restaurant in Penzance.

He said: "It has been incredible. I can mature it the way I want to - it is like ageing beef.

Bruce Rennie said the feedback has been "phenomenal" on the locally caught blue fin tuna

"I had everything, right down to the fat that you get. I rendered that down and made a rillette, which is classically a meat sort of pate idea. It was amazing.

"The complements have been phenomenal. I get a lot of guests from all over the world and people have really noted the quality of the fish.

"One guy said it was the best otoro - or tuna belly - he had ever eaten. It is definitely a great product."

Mr Rennie added that he took issues of sustainability very seriously, but was confident "stocks are at good levels".

Recently Rick Stein's restaurants posted a video promoting blue fin tuna on their menus, and received criticism from some people questioning if it was too soon to be commercially fishing for this species.

The Blue Marine Foundation is actively involved with stopping over-fishing and shares some concerns, fearing the fishery may have been opened up too soon.

The licensed vessels cannot use live bait

However, Charles Clover, co-founder of the foundation, believes, at its current scale, the fishery is being well managed and "the way it has been done is excellent".

He said: "If you are going to reopen it, this is the way to do it. It is precautionary, it is for small boats, it's for rod and line only.

"I don't think it can be developed massively from here over the next few years because I don't think the science and the stocks justify it, or our share of the international catch justify it.

"So I think this is actually not a bad way to do it, if you are going to open the fishery at all."

Those with licences hope the fishery will be allowed to continue, possibly from next July, to coincide with the busy tourist season.

That decision will be down to ICCAT and the government, which will consider the results of the pilot.

Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said the government is "committed to the sustainable management of Atlantic bluefin tuna" and the pilot scheme was designed to "help deliver this while providing economic and social benefits to communities around our coast".

"I look forward to seeing the valuable research that this work will deliver, contributing hugely to developing a plan for how we use our quota in the future," he said

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