It was the big game experience to beat them all, a hunt so heady, thrilling and downright extraordinary that the cream of Hollywood – along with some of the richest and grandest families on Earth – dropped everything to fly in and take their chance.
asserted
cream → beat → chance
For this warm-blooded beast, the largest of the tuna family, is one of the ocean’s most magnificent predators; sleek, muscular and unbelievably strong with the biggest specimens growing up to ten feet long and weighing more than 800lbs.
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specimens → grow → 800lbs
Fast as quicksilver and iridescently gleaming, they migrated to the North Sea in search of vast shoals of herring.
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they → gleam → herring
And it was here in the 1930s, under the aegis of the Scarborough Tunny Club, where the likes of John Wayne, Errol Flynn and David Niven, alongside Lord Astor and famed hunter Lady Vera Delves Broughton, set off in small fishing boats to try their luck.
asserted
likes → set → luck
Once hooked, the battle to reel in tuna could rage for hours, with challengers in fervent pursuit of scale-shattering glory.
uncertain
challengers → hook → glory
The bluefin tuna is the largest of the tuna family and one of the ocean’s most magnificent predators
Inventor and globetrotting gadabout Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry bagged an 851lbs monster in 1932.
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Henry → bag → 1932
His record still stands.
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record → stand → ?
But as the 1930s faded and those gilded young bucks marched off to fight in the Second World War, the small boats were left to rot in their dry docks, the rods and reels left untouched.
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rods → fade → docks
Then new advances in commercial fishing saw herring stocks dangerously depleted, while the demand for bluefin tuna – once seen as fit only for cats and fertiliser – rocketed, to feed an ever more rampant demand across the globe.
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demand → see → globe
It turned out this fish tasted every bit as fine as it looked, especially when cut into quivering slices of the most exquisite sushi and sashimi, with prime specimens going for a fortune at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market.
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specimens → turn → market
By the start of the 1990s, bluefin tuna had disappeared from British waters.
asserted
tuna → disappear → waters
And by 2007, global tuna stocks were close to collapse.
asserted
stocks → collapse → 2007
This once abundant beast had been fished to the edge of extinction.
asserted
beast → fish → extinction
Enter the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) which launched a 15-year recovery plan for the species in 2007, alongside strict international fishing regulations.
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which → enter → regulations
Its strategy, alongside ever warming waters (meaning more sardines and herrings for the tuna to feed on) have seen Eastern Atlantic numbers surge once again in Britain’s seas.
asserted
numbers → warm → seas
A 740lbs bluefin tuna was caught off the coast of in Whitby, for the first time in six decades
It has been so successful that by 2021, the species was not only removed from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, but there were more and more sightings along the South-west coast of England.
asserted
species → catch → England
And just last month, a 740lbs bluefin tuna was caught off the coast of Whitby, for the first time in six decades.
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tuna → catch → decades
This beautiful fish has at last returned to the North Sea and, with proper management, will hopefully be around for many decades to come.
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fish → return → decades
‘Seeing a shoal in action really is the most unbelievable sight,’ says Mitch Tonks, chef, restaurateur and all-round fish guru.
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Tonks → see → action
He lives in Dartmouth, Devon, and is owner of The Seahorse restaurant.
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He → live → restaurant
‘The water seethes and boils as the tuna drive their prey up to the surface.
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tuna → seethe → surface
It just blows your mind,’ he says.
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he → blow → mind
He tells me that they started arriving back in the English Channel in big numbers about four years ago.
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they → tell → numbers
They were spotted, tagged, released and carefully monitored.
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They → spot → ?
He’s been out fishing for them a number of times, recently landing a 185lbs beauty before releasing it.
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He → fish → it
‘We operate on a strictly catch and release basis as we don’t have a commercial licence,’ he says.
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he → operate → licence
‘But it took me 30 minutes to fight and reel it in.
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it → take → it
You see the most incredible range of colours as the sun glints off their skin, green and yellows and blues...’
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sun → see → skin
He pauses, lost in reverie.
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He → pause → reverie
And with the reappearance of these colossal creatures, a fledgling tuna fishing industry has sprung up.
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industry → spring → creatures
In 2023, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) issued ten commercial vessels with fishing licences on a trial basis.
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Department → issue → basis
This year, 30 commercial boats have been allowed a catch a total of four tons each, still a relatively tiny amount.
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boats → allow → tons
‘Tuna fishing is incredibly complex,’ explains Tonks, ‘and I don’t think many of the fish are being handled properly.
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many → explain → fish
They need to be killed in the right way, preferably by ikejime.’
This is the Japanese method where the fish is despatched with a spike through its brain, so death is instant and painless.
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death → need → brain
It also prevents stress chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and lactic acid building up, which can turn the flesh sour and mushy and give it a nasty fishy pong, as well as spoiling quickly.
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flesh → prevent → pong
Tonks adds: ‘Then they need to be bled and chilled quickly on board to stop the internal body heat ruining the meat and to prevent dangerous toxins from forming.
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heat → add → toxins
A lot of these boats don’t even have ice-making facilities on board.’
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lot → have → board
He shakes his head.
asserted
He → shake → head
‘It’s a true art and it will take time to understand these beautiful fish.
asserted
it → ’ → fish
One of those trying to do it right is Edgar Moxom, owner and skipper of Ocean Echoes, based in Weymouth, Dorset.
asserted
One → try → Weymouth
…and 20 more, not listed.
The Aporia
