ISLANDERS are being urged to support the fishing industry after a monster 300kg tuna was brought to Jersey this weekend to be served up at a local restaurant.
The record-breaking tuna, the biggest to reach Jersey so far, arrived at Dunn-Ross Fisheries after the business was contacted by a local restaurant looking for a large fish for sushi.
However, its arrival sparked some disappointment online, with Islanders questioning why it had been imported when Jersey-based fishers have been granted permission to catch the species in local waters.
Fishmonger Conor McMurray said the Dunn-Ross had been looking for a fish of this size for some time, but there had been “nothing of that size landing to us locally”.
He said the business remained fully “behind Jersey fishermen” and urged Islanders to continue buying locally caught tuna to help ensure the Island retains its quota, with the species expected to provide a much-needed boost to the industry.
Last month, Jersey secured additional quota from the UK to catch and land the species as part of a commercial and scientific trial designed to improve understanding of the Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Since then, Les Burt of Crabs Direct, Leyton Hunnisett and Gabby Mason of Jade-S Fisheries, Jason Bonhomme of Soixante Neuf Fisheries and Shetty Chavan have all been actively catching tuna weighing between 40kg and 80kg.
Dunn-Ross said it had bought and sold about 70% of the locally caught tuna landed over the past two weeks.
“From our point of view, the public have fully supported it,” Mr McMurray said. “In the past two weeks, we’ve bought and sold 17 tuna fish now.
“Most of our tuna on our counter is less than 48 hours old and I think it’s that freshness that’s allowed it to be so popular.”
The arrival of the 300kg tuna was not without its challenges, with the fish’s weight causing problems before it could even reach the counter. Freight operator Ferryspeed initially required a forklift to remove the fish from the back of the lorry.
“Ferryspeed almost didn’t bring it down to the Fish Market, because they needed to use a forklift to get it out the back of the lorry, and then we haven’t got a forklift here, so they were unsure if they were able to send it,” Mr McMurray said.
The fishmonger instead turned to six bodybuilder friends to help manoeuvre the “jaw-dropping” fish from the lorry.
“A Ferryspeed driver used a winch pulley system to be able to get it to the edge of the tailgate. And then once it was safely on the tailgate, we manoeuvred it out.
“No one could walk past on the pavement because the tuna was 300 kilos, plus you have got all the ice and the wooden paddle board, so it was quite a lot of weight there.
“We managed to bring it to the shop and then we had about six of us using a rope to carefully lift it out onto plastic sheeting so we could take it into a fridge and put ice on it and wrap it up so it kept its perfect condition.”
The spectacle attracted a crowd of around 50 people, with some Islanders stopping to watch the fish being moved into the shop.
“We had a crowd of people outside while we were taking it out of the box,” Mr McMurray sid. “People were FaceTiming their friends live, saying ‘look at this’. It was a really nice atmosphere, and the public definitely loved it.”
Despite Dunn-Ross being “honest with the public” and advertising that the fish had not been caught locally, the business has faced online backlash over the importation.
Mr McMurray said the fish had been sourced through the company’s existing mainland connections, which it uses as part of its everyday business.
“We have never refused purchasing tuna from a local fisherman,” he said. “This was us using our connections in the mainland that we have for our everyday work, as our business is to import fish and buy locally.
“This is how our business runs and Dunn-Ross has always stood behind the Jersey fishermen and we always will. Jersey fishermen know if they need anything, that they can ring us up and we are here to support them in any way that we can.”
Mr McMurray said the Island’s fishing fleet had become “smaller and smaller” over the years and had “worryingly” decreased over the past 40 years.
Mr McMurray said the future of Jersey’s tuna fishery would depend on whether the Island could make full use of its quota.
“I think for the future of tuna fishing, it will only come down to how much of a quota we can get filled right now. For us to have a future, it’s not just fish merchants who need to get behind the fishermen, it’s the public,” he said.
“They need to be behind the locally caught tuna, whether it’s buying from us or from JDS Fisheries or from Fishwise. They need to be supporting and purchasing this fish because without the public, there’s no point in fishmongers buying fish.
“We want to get this quota filled, because, it would be nice for Jersey to have a future in tuna fishing. Islanders need to go out and buy tuna, as we have had a steady, fresh supply of locally caught tuna for the past two weeks.”
Meanwhile, the 300kg tuna was destined for the restaurant trade, with a chef from Kyoto travelling to Dunn-Ross on Saturday to prepare the fish for “high-quality sushi”.
Due to its size and the weight of each loin, the fish was cut into eight different sections.
