FROM time to time, NSW DPI’s Game Fish Tagging Program is lucky enough to receive details of recaptures that come from remote regions of the Pacific Ocean.
Recently, a game fish recapture form was submitted by a researcher from the Japanese Fisheries Research Institute. The fisheries researcher had received a tag from a skipper of an international longline vessel who had just returned from a long-distance fishing voyage throughout the Pacific Islands.
During this trip, the longline vessel captured a mature tagged yellowfin tuna while fishing an area known as the Pocklington Trough, which is east of Rossel Island, PNG.
A quick search of the database found that the tuna was tagged at the Southern Canyons offshore of Port Hacking, NSW.
The fish was originally caught on 17 July 2016 by Fishing World writer Gina Cleaver, who was fishing aboard her brother Chris’s boat Double Edge.
The juvenile tuna was estimated to be only 5kg when it was tagged.
Upon recapture, it weighed in at 61kg, highlighting the typically impressive growth rate of this species.
The fish spent 1649 days at liberty and was caught more than 1330 nautical miles (~2460km) from its original release location.
For more information: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
