Coastguards Catch Fish Weighing 270kg And Worth $120K

A crew of the Irish Coast Guard has caught an enormous bluefin tuna weighing 270kg and measuring eight and a half feet long.

The Irish Coast Guard is part of the Department of Transport of the Republic of Ireland, whose primary roles include maritime safety and search-and-rescue.

The fish is said to be the largest caught off the coast of Ireland this year.

Leader of the crew, David Edwards, had announced via his Facebook wall: “Finally!!! Got the first Bluefin Tuna to be caught, tagged and released on The South Coast of Ireland.

“102 inches long, is 5-600lb in weight and well done to my crew for the day, Darren O’Sullivan, Henk Veldman and John Dillon great job lads.”

American medium, Fox News, estimated that the fish could have been worth $120,000, though Independent claimed that it was worth €3m or £2.6m — a claim which leader of the crew, David Edwards, described as “fantasy.”

The crew members are among several boats on Ireland’s south and west coasts taking part in a catch-and-release programme to help establish numbers of the dwindling stock of bluefin tuna.

Edwards, of Courtmacsherry-based West Cork Charters, caught the fish three miles south of his base in southern Ireland, and tagged the animal before letting it go.

Speaking to local news outlet Cork News Live, Mr. Edwards said: “They are much more common up in Donegal Bay where they follow the herring.

“They are more unusual down here but tend to be much bigger when they do show up.

“This is the first one caught south of Donegal Bay this year and it really was a big fish.”

Responding to a comment asking if the size of the fish was due to “a global warming effect,” Mr. Edwards replied: “More of a case of curbing the massive Japanese fleet that was targeting [them] a few years back.”

Independent reports that the bluefin tuna is a highly prized delicacy in Japan, where a single fish weighing 278kg – a similar size to the one Mr. Edwards caught – was sold for 333.6 million yen (£2.5m) in January with diners prepared to pay colossal sums to have it on their plates.

The bluefin tuna is becoming increasingly rare chiefly due to overfishing, and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Independent noted.