Atlantic bluefin tuna return to northeast England after 60 years
By Community Correspondent
Atlantic bluefin tuna have returned to waters off northeast England for the first time in around 60 years – and University of Exeter researchers have tagged the iconic fish there for the first time.
Five tuna have so far been tagged off the coast of Whitby, with researchers planning to deploy more tags this week.
The return of the fish is a welcome development for the region.
Scarborough was once a world-famous destination for big game fishing, attracting Hollywood stars including John Wayne, Clark Gable and Errol Flynn to the Yorkshire coast to catch giant bluefin tuna.
But by the 1960s, bluefin had disappeared from the North Sea following overfishing and the depletion of herring shoals.
Dr Lucy Hawkes, of the University of Exeter, said the fish are a native British species and their return reflected careful fisheries management.
She said bluefin are also top predators, meaning their presence can be an indication of healthy marine ecosystems.
Researchers are now using tags to find out where the northeast England tuna have come from and where they travel.
The tags record light, temperature and depth, allowing scientists to estimate the fish's movements. After two years, the tags are programmed to detach and float to the surface, where they transmit summary data by satellite.
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The information could help improve understanding of bluefin migration and support international conservation and fisheries management.
Bluefin quotas across the Atlantic are managed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), with accurate information about fish movements helping inform how quotas are allocated between countries.
The Exeter team has tagged 165 bluefin since 2018 in waters off southwest England, Wales and Jersey.
However, the fish now being found off northeast England are considerably larger and may be genetically distinct from those previously tagged.
The researchers say tagging is particularly important because there is currently no comparable data for bluefin in waters off northeast England.
They also highlighted the important role of recreational bluefin fishermen, skippers and anglers, whose knowledge and cooperation have helped researchers locate and tag the fish.
Previous tagging work by the Exeter team has revealed bluefin migration routes into the Mediterranean for spawning, as well as the timing of their movements through the English Channel.
