New Age World Record For Bigeye Tuna ff

A bigeye tuna (Thunnus Obesus) with a yellow plastic tag embedded in its back was recaptured in September by an Australian longline vessel fishing in the Coral Sea, off the north-east coast of Australia. The tuna had been tagged and released nearly 14 years before (on 3 November 1991) only 92 nautical miles from its point of recapture, although evidence from other recaptures suggests large-scale movement would probably have occurred during its time at liberty. 

The fish had grown from 65 cm long (around 5 kg) at release to 164 cm (around 80 kg) on recapture. Its long time at liberty is clearly a world record for this tuna species, and confirms the longevity of bigeye relative to most other tunas - this particular fish was estimated to be around 15 years old on recapture. 

The recaptured tuna was originally released as part of a regional tagging project conducted throughout 16 Pacific Island countries (including Australia) over a period of four years from 1989 to 1992 by the Oceanic Fisheries Program (OFP) of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Noumea, New Caledonia. The project was responsible for tagging over 150,000 tuna during this period, with a recapture rate of around 13 per cent. A similar project was conducted by SPC in the late 1970s-early 1980s, and it is hoped to repeat these mark-recapture experiments on a regular basis as an ongoing means of monitoring the health of the valuable tuna stocks of the region. 

Tuna are a highly migratory species, making it very difficult to get an indication of the size and well-being of their stocks. The information obtained from tagging projects is fundamental to the stock assessment work conducted by OFP scientists. Unfortunately, the high costs and complicated logistics involved in conducting a regional tagging project mean that such projects have so far only been undertaken every 10-15 years.-Secretariat of the Pacific Community.