An Australian journalist and presenter: Al McGlahshan, has shared his experiences of getting up close and personal with southern bluefin tuna in a video taken when trolling for tuna off the Australia’s New South Wales coast.
This species of tuna that has made a dramatic comeback in recent years, according to Al, push up the east coast in huge schools and turn up on the NSW south coast in late June, early July every year, and can be seen in the video swimming curiously close to the camera.
Al said: “It’s hard to describe the excitement when the tuna arrive.â€
In just over a minute the footage allows you to immerse yourself into the scene and witness the bluefin desperately snatch at the food released by hand, then return as if undisturbed to their smooth movements through the water.
Ranging in size from 45kg to 100kg, the southern bluefin tuna is a big fish that can be difficult to catch as they can be found anywhere in the ocean.
After trolling a spread of deep diving lures 100km of Jervis Bay, Al and his team found the tuna and filmed their experience of having the opportunity to share the personal space of such a “magnificent fish.â€
Al added: “While the others went to work tagging, I dived in to join the tuna. It is hard to describe, but being surrounded by big fish is nothing short of spectacular.â€
It is thought that decreasing Bluefin tuna stocks comes from the estimation that 99 percent of this species caught in Australian water is young fish that have not yet had chance to reproduce.
Al’s team caught the Bluefin they found, tagged them and took blood samples before releasing them back into the water, which they believe is essential in looking after this species of tuna so that their arrival to the NSW coast happens year after year.