French media herald 534kg catch of tuna

French media herald 534kg catch of tuna

Newspaper La Manche Libre reported that one vessel had caught six tuna between Jersey and Guernsey and unloaded them at the port in Normandy. The total weight of the haul was 534kg. In Britain, tuna retails for about £33/kg in supermarkets.

Earlier this week Don Thompson, chairman of the Jersey Fishermen’s Association, said he was drafting a proposition to present to the Fisheries and Marine Resources Panel, asking for Island fleets to be allowed to catch and sell tuna.

Unlike France, Jersey and the UK do not have a quota for the fish, which means they cannot land it.

Mr Thompson said he believed French vessels had landed 45,000kg of tuna at Granville markets last year.

A spokesman for the Marine Resources Department said he was aware of two French vessels, licensed under the Bay of Granville Agreement, that had caught tuna on at least one occasion last year, but he believed the catches were outside Jersey waters.

He added that France had a limited quota to catch tuna and that when those were landed, the country, which primarily fishes for the species in the Mediterranean, had already exceeded its annual limit and so fleets had their catch confiscated and did not make any profit.

The story in the French press, which has been translated into English, read: ‘Six bluefin tuna caught between Jersey and Guernsey were unloaded at the Port of Granville auction on Saturday, August 17, 2019, in the middle of the morning.

‘They were captured by the trawler Le Tibériade, belonging to the armament of Franck Leverrier. On Wednesday, August 14, 2019, the boat had landed six tuna, weighing 60 to 115 kg.’

The report added: ‘The catch of bluefin tuna is more and more common in the
autumn. Last year, the armament of Franck Leverrier had captured 40 in one night. Indeed, according to Ifremer, the
population of this fish is being reconstituted with an increase in numbers linked to the setting up, since 2007, of a plan including various measures aiming to limit catches.’

Yesterday a 109kg bluefin tuna, caught by Le Tibériade, went on sale for just under 23 euros per kg at a supermarket in Avranches, just south of Granville.

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