Huge tuna goes from prize catch to potential fine

[jpak]

http://www.pressherald.com/news/huge-tuna-goes-from-prize-catch-to-potential-fine_2011-11-23.html

Local fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael was elated when one of his trawlers snared an 881-pound bluefin tuna earlier this month.

But the joy was short-lived. Federal fishery enforcement agents seized the fish when the crew returned to port Nov. 12.

Rafael had tuna permits, but was told that catching tuna with a net is illegal. It has to be done with handgear, such as rod and reel, harpoon or handline.

"We didn't try to hide anything," Rafael told The Standard-Times newspaper of New Bedford, a famous whaling-era port 50 miles south of Boston. "We did everything by the book. Nobody ever told me we couldn't catch it with a net."

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read your permits dufous

yup

[louis-t]

1. 881-pound Tuna! Sheesh! I'd like to see the handgear

that could handle that size fish.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It used to be (very nearly) done in Britain:

UK tuna fishing began in 1929. Famous angler Mr Stapleton-Cotton hooked two large fish estimated at well over 600lbs off Scarborough, Yorkshire, but sadly lost both. By the fight, sheer weight, awesome power and brief sightings these fish were identified as bluefin.

The summer and fall of 1930 proved decisive. It was August 27th when Mitchell-Henry sunk a hook into a tuna weighing 560lbs some 50 miles off Scarborough. The season didn't end there. A further four fish weighing 392lbs, 591lbs, 630lbs and 735lbs, this just 23lb below the then current Zane Grey's record Nova Scotia fish at 758lbs.
...
The climax for UK tuna was reached in 1933 with a fish that is still the UK record weighing 851lbs taken off Whitby in Yorkshire, again by Mitchell-Henry.

http://www.worldseafishing.com/features/britishtuna.html

[Philosopher King]

2. "Federal fishery enforcement agents seized the fish..."

...thereby doing what the feds do best--create new varieties of government waste.

[jpak]

3. what horseshit

yup

[Philosopher King]

4. Actually, you are correct--I missed it the first time.

Nevertheless, it looks like it is going to be a rip-off.

Rafael's fish will be sold overseas, and he'll get no share of the proceeds if regulators find a violation, The Standard-Times reported. The money and any fine would instead go into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fund that also holds money collected for fishery fines.

[zalinda]

5. It's going through the courts

He bought the tuna permits, just in case something like this happened. He wasn't trying to get the tuna, which is where the distinction may lie. Any way, it is being auctioned off and the it's the money that will go to either him or some dept in the US.

zalinda

[Nihil]

7. Glad to see them enforcing the laws.

> The rules aim to take away any incentive to chase and keep the
> highly coveted fish, beyond what's allowed.

It doesn't help this particular tuna but it will save future ones.

:thumbsup:

[xchrom]

8. +1

[joshcryer]

10. How? Future tuna will be caught. This will only lead to future tuna being caught this way...

...being sold on the black market.

[Nihil]

11. So, do you think that more tuna would be caught if ...

A) Illegal catches like this are punished.

OR

B) Illegal catches like this are not punished.

?

:shrug:

[bvar22]

9. That one fish might be worth almost 1/2 MILLION Dollars.

A bluefin tuna caught off northern Japan has sold for the record price of $395,000 at auction in Tokyo.

Prices of the endangered tuna are expected to rise further because catches of the fish are becoming rarer.

The 340-kilogram tuna was caught on Tuesday on a long-line off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.

It was flown to Tokyo overnight and put up for auction at the city's Tsukiji fish market yesterday morning.

The winning bid was put jointly by a Tokyo restaurant and a Hong Kong sushi chain.

That is equivalent to nearly $1,200 per kilogram.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-01-05/395k-tuna-smashes-price-record/1895782

881 Pounds = 400 Kilos X $1,200 = $480,000.00

[demicritic]

12. The most heaviest tuna ever

This could be the most largest and heaviest tuna I have ever heard and read for the record.

[NickB79]

13. Naaa, this one's just a baby compared to the record

http://www.bigmarinefish.com/photos_bluefin_tuna_pg4.html

Almost 1500 lb, and it appears he caught it on a rod if that picture is any indication!