Fisherman proud of his catch.
Port Hood man reels in 600-pound bluefin tuna
Gary Spears knew he’d have no shortage of company upon arriving at the Port Hood government wharf with a 272-kilogram (600-pound) bluefin tuna. He was right.
“But you have a bit of fun with it and you’re a bit proud of yourself,” said Spears. “People are driving back and forth waiting for a tuna to come in. The kids’ faces light up when they see it. They don’t know what to think.”
Caught just off the western coast of Cape Breton two weeks ago, it remains his trophy catch of the season.
Bluefin tuna range anywhere from 180 to 450 kilograms, so it was a fine haul. Since the season opened back in July, he has caught seven of them. He’s among about 30 tuna fishermen in the country with a 14-fish quota licence, so he’s hoping for a few more by October’s end, when the season pretty much wraps up in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The 11 other Port Hood tuna fishermen are restricted to just one fish, so most of them will take to the water late, hoping to score a fat one.
The fatter the fish, generally, the better the price. Other factors, like a fluctuating global market, come into play. Right now prices range from $11-$31 per kilogram.
Spears is hoping with the Boston tuna season ending last week, better prices are around the corner. Japan remains the biggest market for bluefin tuna.
“We go when the market is good. We listen to our buyers,” he said. “When October comes around we pretty much have to go because the fish will leave here by the first week of November. If we don’t have our fish caught, we have to go down to Canso.”
Spears isn’t complaining. He and his local counterparts are coming off a fine lobster season, hauling in average catches of 180 to 225 kilos, and fetching $15 a kilo for their efforts.
But tuna fishing is where the real fun is, he admits.
The process of catching one on a two- or three-metre fibreglass rod is what you might expect — exhausting. But to Spears, who has been at it for a
dozen years now, it’s an unbeatable adrenalin rush. It’s a battle
of wills, and he and his helper Sheldon Gillis are determined to come out on top.
“You get a good payday, that’s your biggest reward.”
Spears argues that the onefish quota imposed on Gulf fishermen should be increased. In recent years he has seen stock levels bounce back from their depleted levels in the 1970s.
“There are all kinds of tuna. The last 10 years has been impressive. In the 1990s you had to fish for almost two months to get one. Now, one or two days, you can get one.”
Katie Schleit, senior marine campaign co-ordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, said the science agrees with Spears but it’s a misleading trend.
There are two stocks, eastern and western bluefin tuna, that feed in the Atlantic. The data shows that both the western stocks, arriving after spawning in the Gulf of Mexico, and eastern stocks, hailing from the Mediterranean, seem to be on the rise. But western stocks are expected to decline.
She also said increasing quotas would likely lead to an increase in global supply, which might lead to lower prices.
“So it might not be to their advantage,” she said.