The bluefin tuna fishing off the coast of Southern Ireland has been dealt a blow after authorities told charter skippers it’s illegal to catch them!
In recent years anglers have begun to target tuna with fish fish to 440kilos recorded from Donegal Bay and in 2012 a 140 kilo tuna was caught in nets in Dingle.
European fisheries regulations governing the catching, landing and sale, claim that unless a member state has assigned a portion of their quota to sports and recreational fisheries to target bluefin, no such fishing can take place.
Current fisheries management states that recreational and sport fisheries may be facilitated by member states by allocating a specific national bluefin quota to the sectors, but because Ireland does not have a quota, the EU has advised that a recreational fishery cannot be operated..
Mortalities arising from fish accidentally caught in the course of angling must be notified to the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, which is charged with enforcement of the above regulations. The fish will be confiscated and disposed of.
Good numbers of albacore tuna – a more plentiful smaller sub species – are still fished for and indeed are being caught in good numbers with the charter Silver Dawn out of Kinsale recording big catches in the past weeks.
Dr Ciaran Byrne, said: “Inland Fisheries Ireland is supportive of hard-pressed coastal communities and aware of the economic boost which recreational angling can bring to such peripheral communities. In this regard, Ifi continues to investigate the possibility of operating a recreational bluefin tuna catch and release fishery.”
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