Coastal seiner Sjarmør has landed a catch of 168 bluefin tuna for a night’s fishing. It’s the first big catch of the year in Norwegian waters, and the first seine-caught bluefin to be landed this year. Up to now, one bluefin has been caught in a trawl and other fish landed have been taken on rod-and-line.
‘We caught these tuna in three shots. The biggest shot gave us 106 tuna, and the other two 32 and 30 fish,’ said skipper Lars Helge Saltskår. The overall amount landed is 47 tonnes, so these fish have an average weight of 280kg.
The catch was reported to the Herring Sales Association prior to the 61-metre Sjarmør docking at Raudeberg to discharge the catch to Domstein Seafood.
The fish are bled and gutted on board, and held in the vessel’s RSW tanks. The catch was taken in three locations southwest of Florø.
Lars Helge Saltskår commented that he has no idea what price Domstein will get for this large catch.
Last year, many fishermen were disappointed with prices in some instances, especially for larger catches of bluefin tuna. The question is whether Domstein and other buyers have managed to find buyers who will pay better prices than last year.
The bluefin that have so far been caught by rod fishermen have in some cases been paid NoK150 to 200 per kilo. There are unconfirmed reports of up to NoK200 being paid for some landings – although it seems that individual fish offered for sale are more likely to fetch higher prices.
