Scandinavian Giants - The History of Bluefin Tuna

[Heli Sports]

Heli,

I have a friend who has a small trawler on the south coast of Sweden. He still sees bluefin every year passing through the Kattegat, but only in small, small numbers. He told me once that when he was a small boy they were so numerous that he could never understand why they were never sportfished there. They certainly had the opportunity. With the numbers of Irish tuna re-appearing and the growth of herring stocks in the North Sea you never know what might happen if they left the poor buggers alone in the Med.

That's cool, Roddy. I did not know that there were still some tuna sightings in the Öresund. Hopefully you are correct about the Herring and a recovery for Bluefin Tuna in Scandinavian waters.

There actually once was a prolific sportfishery for Bluefin in Northern Europe. The history of the tuna fishing in Scandinavia is both facinating and tragic...


Scandinavian Giants

Through the late 1950's, Scandinavian seas (the Öresund, Skagerrak and Kattegatt Straits) were the summer home of a tremendous population of Bluefin tuna. And up until the mid 1970's, the waters of the North Sea and Norwegian Sea hosted huge numbers of Bluefin from June through October.



Although Bluefin had been caught by Danish fishermen as early as the mid 1800's, it was not until after World War I that Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden began large-scale industrial fishing for these tuna.

"Major tuna fishing countries at the time such as Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Germany, recorded virtually no bluefin landings in 1910 and almost 5,500 tonnes by 1949. In 1915 nearly 8,000 bluefin (690 tons) were landed in Gothenburg, Sweden alone.

In 1929, Denmark built its first tuna cannery – a milestone in the new industrial approach echoing elsewhere in Europe. In the 1920s, the catch peaked at Boulogne, France, homeport for the French bluefin fishers in the North Sea.

Landings of bluefin tuna by northern European boats in record numbers soared through the 1940s and by decade’s end approached the catch levels of traditional Mediterranean fisheries. In 1949, Norway had 43 boats in pursuit of the bluefin; the next year it had 200. Norwegian catches briefly exceeded 10,000 tons per year in the early 1950s."

Skagen Denmark (1946?)


Landings of Scandinavian Bluefin continued to soar during the 1950's:

"The total weight of tunnies brought to Danish fishing harbours in 1959 was 772 000 kg, approximately 8000 bluefins. Today there is no fishing at all for tuna in Danish waters."

By the 1960's, the fisheries of Denmark and Sweden were in severe decline, however the North Sea continued to produce and Norway had massive landings:

"The last bastion for the bluefin in the waters of Scandinavia must have been the North Sea coast between Brandasund and Bueland in Norway. During the 60´s and 70´s, a yearly catch of 600 000 kg to 700 000 kg was normal in Norwegian waters. According to the National Norwegian Board of Fisheries in Bergen the following catches of bluefin have been made during the 80´s. 1980 (282 000 kg),1981(161 000 kg), 1982 (0 kg), 1983 (18 000 kg), 1984 (243 000 kg) 1985 (0 kg), 1986 (31 000 kg), 1987-89 (0 kg)."

f/v Speranza - Nice set North Sea (1967)


Before the decimation of these North European stocks, Sweden and Denmark had prolific sport fisheries as well:

"In 1945, Arvid Carlander boarded six tunnies during seven days weighing 1239 kg. The heaviest weighed 240 kg. In 1947, Arvid Carlander boarded 24 bluefin. One day he caught six with the total weight of 1000 kg. In 1949, Arvid Carlander hooked and landed nine tuna during four days. Another Swede fishing the Öresund waters around 1950 was the Swedish king, Gustaf VI Adolf. He hooked and landed several tunas on rod and line. The golden age for Öresund was between 1946 and 1952. In 1948, 350 tunnies were caught, 150 on rod and line and 200 by handliners. Commercial fishermen caught individual tuna close to 500 kg.

In 1949, Danish angler Carl Bauder alone boarded 68 tunnies weighing 10 310 kg. One week he hooked and landed 18 bluefin and was from that week called "the Tunny King". That same year, the Scandinavian Tuna Club was founded. Members came from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Each year a tournament "Scandinavian Tuna Cup" was held. The tournament ran for two or three days. Teams from USA,Australia, South Africa and many European nations took part. At times approx. 100 boats participated.

The last tournament was held in 1954. No bluefin was caught during that competition. The years around 1950 were unforgettable for the members of the club. 300 to 400 tunnies were caught each year. Daily catches of 4-6 tuna on board one boat were made. In 1950 Danish angler Knud Kyvsgaard caught a tuna weighing 372 kg, which still holds the Scandinavian record for bluefin tuna. The bluefins visiting Öresund during August to October were huge fish swimming in small shoals. They exposed themselves when surface-hunting for garfish. When mackerel was on their menu they fed deeper. Most fish were hooked 4-6 meters below the surface and from drifting boats. Kite-fishing and trolling were other methods used, but did not pay off as well as driftfishing. People chummed with mackerel, garfish and herring."

Swedish sportfishing magazine (1946)


As you can see, these were quality fish, cold-water, herring and mackerel fat fish! The Norwegian giants were fairly well esteemed in Japan up until shipments ceased in the mid-eighties.

f/v Vagly - Norwegian Sea (1971)


There are no longer any landings of Bluefin from these waters today, and there has not been any significant harvest there for decades. These stocks, meta-populations of the East Atlantic Mediterranean spawning stock, swam these waters for at least one-hundred years. They are now likely extinct, wiped out in much the same way that the Brazilian stock was eliminated by the Japanese long-line fleet during the early 1960's.

The data and quotes included in this post were taken from the following websites which chronicle the collapse of the North Atlantic Bluefin stock and the devastation of the northern European commercial and sport fisheries for the species:

Bluefin Tuna in Scandinavian Waters

Bluefin Tuna - Past and Present

The Norwegian Fishery for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

Fishing Bluefin Tuna in Norway

Giant Bluefin Tuna in Norway

[Roddy Hays]

Huh, I wonder why he never knew that ? Mebbe as a child the fishing was over (he's younger than me so born maybe 62/63 ?) but there were still fish around....... I know his family were not fishing people, so no reason for them to know, I guess.

Fascinating, anyway. Thanks. Like so much, too little known too late. Imagine if quotas had been in place 50 years ago.

The Japanese decimation of the Brazilian fishery I knew about. I knew a South African who had a fleet of trawlers off Mauritania in the late 1970's and he said that there was a hell of a run of bluefin there too until the Japanese came across from the west Atlantic and killed them there too. His crews used to try and catch them off the deck winches after hauling back. Said they caught a few but most obviously escaped - wire doesn't do a lot for a length of mono ! lol. I saw some photos he had, amazing fish - big quality stock. I wonder if there is any left there now ? I know the Cape fishery in False Bay, SA was done and dusted around the same time. When I fished out of Simonstown in the very early 1980's they hadn't seen a bluefin there for years, yet 20 years previously it was probably one of the best fisheries in the world.

As far as I know the only places that bluefin are seen regularly now in the south Atlantic are off St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. I do not know if there is enough there to make it a viable population or whether it is just the remnants of a southern hemisphere population that is now all but biologically extinct. I know that Les Gallagher and his crew also saw some off Ascension too some years ago. I'd imagine it's the same group of fish, running scared from everything.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to post that last lot - I know I have some interesting reading to do tonight now !

[LuckyLady]

This was such a good write up and post in the Holy Tuna HOLY TUNA Thread I had to share it!!!

Thank you for contributing !!!

If you would like you can enter this thread in to the contest for the lures!

[yakfishnick]

Thanks for the tuna fishing history info, it's greatly appreciated.

[tunatamer73]

[Patudo]

There used to be a longline fishery targeting bluefin conducted between the northern tip of the United Kingdom and Iceland. I wonder if this area is still producing? The quantities mentioned weren't that big (although obviously significant enough for commercial fishers to target), but it was pretty surprising to hear of catches being made that far north.

[Heli Sports]

There used to be a longline fishery targeting bluefin conducted between the northern tip of the United Kingdom and Iceland. I wonder if this area is still producing? The quantities mentioned weren't that big (although obviously significant enough for commercial fishers to target), but it was pretty surprising to hear of catches being made that far north.

Between 1998 and 2000, a small longline fleet operated out of the Faroe Islands during the late Autumn months. This fleet caught mostly large-school and medium sized Bluefin on the banks between the Faroe-Iceland and Wyville Thompson Ridges. Annual landings by this fleet during the three seasons that they fished tuna were slightly over 100 metric tons per year. I actually saw some of these Faroe Island Bluefin lined up at Tsukiji during visits to Japan. They were very high quality fish, highly esteemed by Japanese wholesalers, consistently achieving high prices at auction and frequently exceeding 10,000 Yen per kilo. There have not been any Bluefin landings in the Faroe Islands since 2000.

During this period, some fishermen in Iceland attempted to establish a longline fishery targeting Bluefin at the Reykjanes Ridge. Iceland had Bluefin landings of about 27 MT in 1999. In 2002, the last year that Iceland declared Bluefin landings, approximately 1 MT was harvested. Remember that around this time ICCAT was attempting to retract Bluefin landings in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic. Several countries were lobbying intensively for quota and trying to establish a history of Bluefin landings. One of the greatest challenges of fishing these grounds are the horrific sea conditions during the late-Autumn months when Bluefin are feeding on these banks.

The Japanese long-range fleet has been longlining for Bluefin in the North Atlantic for decades. Their fleet of 200' freezer vessels is able to fish in heavy seas and targets Bluefin of all sizes during October-December east of the Maury Sea Channel, at the northern end of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and particularly on the Porcupine Bank. The Japanese fleet consitently has annual landings of about 2000 MT tons from these areas each year. In 2008 Japan harvested 2351 MT from the East Atantic. In 2009 their landings were 1904 MT.

[KP161]

People...The Mediterranean caught 40,000, 50,000 or 60,000 metric tons or more for years and years. Often while their quota was much, much less than what they caught. That is where the fish spawn for the most part so what is there not to understand why all the places that used to have fish all over the world no longer have giants??? Where is the confusion where the fish went?

Basically it was a wide open fishery in the Med. I never understood why ICCAT set a quota for the Med as they were going to catch whatever they felt like catching anyways so why bother with a yearly ICCAT meeting and wasting the time. Maybe use the ICCAT meeting as an excuse and just head to the pub. And maybe pick up a kick back or two.

Now it's well documented that the Med would catch 40,000 metric tons. At 2,200 lb per metric ton x 40,000 metric ton that equals 88,000,000 lbs. 88 Million if my math is correct. And that's for only 40,000 mt and they often caught more. So 88,000,000lbs at 400lbs per fish on average equal 220,000 giants per year caught.

Someone please tell me my math is way off. If my math is correct please stop asking where the fish went.

[Heli Sports]

...please stop asking where the fish went.

Who asked where the fish went?

In any case, overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea likely had little to do with the collapse of the Scandinavian meta-population of Bluefin tuna. Or for that of the Brazilian meta-population for that matter. Up until 1992, tuna landings in the Mediterranean were pretty stable at about 17,000 metric tons annually. It was not untill the mid 1990's and the introduction of advanced tuna ranching technologies, that landings exploded in the Med. By this time the North Sea stock had already been decimated by the northern European industrial tuna fleets.

However, over-fishing by Turkey was likely the cause for the extinction of the Black Sea and Bosporous meta-population of Bluefin Tuna. But this is a subject for another day...

[KP161]

[QUOTE=Heli Sports;1827846]Who asked where the fish went?
QUOTE]

Most people.