Once in a blue moon

After years of decline, the mighty bluefin tuna is again being seen in our waters, so Jamie Tusting travels to Cornwall to watch the show

- Jamie Tusting

As I was scrolling through Instagram a few weeks ago, mindlessly flicking past generic selfies and food posts, I came across a picture that made me stop and look again. At first I thought it was a dolphin, but there was something different about it — the fins were sharper looking and the tail was vertically orientated.

On further inspection — and having read the caption — it became apparent that the photo was of a magnificent bluefin tuna. Long, full-bodied, bullet-shaped and powerful looking, the fish was erupting from the deep blue sea in all its majesty. What a beauty! I gave the photo a ‘like’ and was about to move on when I saw the hashtag, #cornwall. I couldn’t believe it, Cornwall, UK? I had no idea we had fish like that in our waters.

A little bit of digging soon yielded some fascinating results and I began to read more extensively about the history of tuna fishing in Britain. It transpires that during the 1920s and 1930s, bluefin tuna were prevalent in much of the water around Britain and big-game fishing became big business.

The fish being caught were of an extraordinary size as well. In 1933, an 851lb tuna was landed at Whitby; this still stands as the biggest ever fish caught on rod and line in UK waters.