FOLLOWING on from a recent long-term yellowfin tuna recapture, the NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program has recently received information about another incredible tuna recapture.
An albacore tuna released by Eden Game Fishing Club boat, Sea Mode, has been recaptured offshore of New Caledonia in the Coral Sea. The fish was originally measured at 60 centimetres and estimated to be four kilograms when it was tagged by Ross Cooper whilst fishing offshore of Merimbula, NSW, on 10 June 2017.
The fish was recaptured on 5 February 2021 by a New Caledonian commercial vessel that was fishing north of the Chesterfield Isles in the outer Coral Sea. The skipper of the vessel kept the fish aside for Caroline Sanchez, a fisheries researcher that works for the Oceanic Fisheries Program of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. The details of the recapture were then forwarded to DPI’s Game Fish Tagging Program. Upon recapture the fish measured 99 centimetres (fork length) and 20.7 kilograms highlighting some solid growth rates! Additionally, Caroline also took otoliths, muscle samples and gonads from this fish as part of her ongoing research into tuna species.
After 1,336 days at liberty the albacore was recaptured some 1,230 nautical miles (~2275km) from where it was originally tagged.
For more information: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
