Rare longterm yellowfin tuna recapture
by Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW 13 May 2021 21:45 PDT
Rare longterm yellowfin tuna recapture © RFA of NSW
From time to time the NSW Game Fish Tagging Program is lucky enough to receive details of recaptures that come from remote regions of the Pacific Ocean.
Recently, a game fish recapture form was submitted by a researcher from the Japanese Fisheries Research Institute. The fisheries researcher had received a tag from a skipper of an international longline vessel who had just returned from a long-distance fishing voyage throughout the Pacific Islands. During this trip, the commercial vessel managed to capture a mature tagged yellowfin tuna whilst fishing an area known as the Pocklington Trough, which is east of Rossel Island, Papua New Guinea.
A quick search of the database found that the tuna was tagged at the Southern Canyons offshore of Port Hacking, NSW. The fish was originally caught on 17 July 2016 by Gina Cleaver, who was fishing aboard game fishing boat Double Edge. The juvenile tuna was estimated it to be only 5 kg when it was tagged whilst upon recapture the fish weighed 61 kg, highlighting an impressive growth rate. The fish spent 1649 days at liberty and was caught over 1330 nautical miles (~2460 km) from its original release location.
The NSW Game Fish Tagging Program is funded by NSW fishing licences.