Bluefin tuna permits 'could offer amazing fishery'

Guernsey has the potential to be "one of the best game fisheries on the planet" should a ban on catching bluefin tuna be lifted, an angler has said.

Landing bluefin tuna is currently prohibited in Guernsey, both commercially and recreationally.

The Committee for Economic Development is putting forward proposals to introduce a permit system for recreational bluefin tuna fishing, on a catch-and-release basis, to be debated later this year.

A local marine biologist has warned important steps need to be undertaken in Guernsey's existing fisheries, before the island moved to allow bluefin fishing.

Former angling journalist and angler Greg Whitehead said he first saw bluefin tuna in Guernsey waters in 2017.

He said that, since then, their numbers had increased drastically.

He said: "There's thousands and thousands of fish out there anytime from mid-June, all the way through to into the new year.

"There's massive potential this is one of the best game fisheries on the planet. I'm not sure anybody would ever expect to say that of the English Channel."

The call comes after five new licences were granted to fishermen to catch and kill bluefin tuna in Jersey.

They were granted as part of new commercial and scientific bluefin tuna trials which will use 26 tonnes of the UK's 2026 bluefin tuna quota and operate in Wales, Jersey and Scotland.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) manages and monitors the capture of bluefin tuna by allocating catch quotas to countries and regions it has a contracting party with.

The UK has been a contracting party since 2020.

In order for Guernsey anglers to obtain recreational permits for bluefin tuna fishing, the UK's contracting party status to ICCAT must be extended to include the bailiwick, along with a raft of other legislative changes to ensure Guernsey meets the necessary compliance requirements.

Then, in principle, Guernsey anglers could be offered a share of the UK quota, which Whitehead said did not need to be significant and "just a few tonnes would be enough to licence dozens of recreational vessels".

He added, however, the obstacle was not just obtaining the quota, but the condition of existing fisheries management in Guernsey, which he said was "failing".

Nicky Harris, marine biology section lead at La Société Guernesiaise, agreed that, while it might be tempting to immediately follow Jersey, Guernsey's fisheries were in nowhere near the same position.

"Guernsey, in comparison, is very under resourced for monitoring and enforcement... The fishermen in Guernsey acutely feel this - this lack of care for marine health," she said.

Harris said, while not against the introduction of a tuna fishery, it was not a "fix-all" solution to an already declining industry.

She said: "It's almost being seen as a band-aid, a sticking plaster, instead of actually looking at improving the wider health of our marine waters through more effective management measures.

"[Tuna fishing] has to be evidence-led, it has to be well managed, it has to be sustainably managed. But we don't see at that point that that's going to happen."

The Economic Development Department has been contacted for a comment.

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