What a catch!
Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival wraps up
There was a festive atmosphere on the Tuna Wharf in Lower Wedgeport when the 16th annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival wrapped up with the final weigh-in on Aug. 24.
Hundreds of spectators filled the stands to watch as giant bluefin tunas along with albacore, big eye and yellow fin tunas were offloaded and weighed, before being prepared for market.
Nearby in the festival tent, a seafood extravaganza was underway, serving everything from steamed lobster and clams, to bacon-wrapped scallops, sushi, and barbecued tuna steaks. A bar and live entertainment completed the setup.
Sixteen boats competed in the tournament, with 14 landing one bluefin each, with a total weight of 7,566 pounds. Claiming the Milton J. Leblanc Memorial
Tuna Cup for the heaviest bluefin landed at 684 pounds was the Provider VII, skippered by Camille Jacquard.
The Lexi Maria, captained by Stephen d’entremont caught the heaviest bluefin (666 pounds) on the fishing grounds known as Northern Edge. Saltwater Salvation, captained by Nicholas Amirault landed the most overall weight at 807 pounds.
In total, there were two big eye tunas landed weighing a combined 173 pounds; two yellowfin (22 pounds) and 11 albacores (455 pounds). The total weight landed was 8,131 pounds.
The South West Nova Tuna Association allocates bluefin tuna quota to the tournament each year. The biggest bluefin landed since the tournament’s revival in 2004 was caught in 2014 by the Atlantic Angler, weighing in at 796 lbs.
The Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival is a weeklong celebration with numerous activities on land. Fishing safety was front and centre in this year’s event, with the Fisheries Safety Association of Nova Scotia (FSANS) collecting hand paint pledges to promote wearing PFDS, sharing fishing safety flags with the participating boats, posting laminated PFD posters, and attending the captain’s meeting to encourage everyone to make sure they wore their PFDS.
The Worker’s Compensation Board (WCB) and the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education work closely with the FSANS and the Nova Scotia Fisheries Sector Council to promote safety wharf-side across the province. Since 2012, FSANS has conducted 160 of its signature Man Overboard Drills, and 30 more are scheduled for 2019.
The FSANS, along with the Nova Scotia Fisheries Sector Council, and numerous fishermen, family members, and public sector representatives together developed Fishing Safety Now, a safety plan by and for the industry that was launched in 2015. FSANS and the Sector Council continued to lead the implementation of this plan, together with industry, government partners, and others. In fall 2018, WCB Nova Scotia and LAE launched an awareness campaign about working safely and continued to promote safety requirements for training and personal protective equipment.