Above: The Aqua-Haulic III idles into place at the Wedgeport Breakwater wharf for the weigh-in. Kathy Johnson photo
It was the year for bluefin tuna at the 19th annual Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival, with the highest recorded weight in the tournament’s history for the 14 fish landed.
“This year, the bluefin were by far the highest average weight per fish,” said Brandon Doucette, president of the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament Association. “We had four bluefins that were over 700 pounds this year. Before this year we’ve only had four or five that were over 700 pounds. The size of the fish was unreal.”
The 14 bluefin weighed a combined 8,603 pounds.
A total of 16 boats participated in the tournament this year, leaving for the fishing grounds on Aug. 22.
“We had a lot of bluefin landed the first and second day, whereas sometimes it goes further into the week,” said Doucette. “Most of the bluefin were caught in a day or two. The boats all were saying how plentiful the bluefin were.”
Once a bluefin is landed, the boat must come in, which accounts for less bigeye and albacore tuna being landed during this year’s tournament. Only six bigeye, weighing a combined 738 pounds and one albacore weighing 34 pounds, were caught.
By comparison, in 2022 86 bigeye (10,306 pounds) and 103 albacore (3,878 pounds) were landed. As for bluefin in 2022, the 11 landed weighed a combined 5,046 pounds.
“It’s hard to compare one year to another,” said Doucette. “Last year was unbelievable the amount of tuna. The best year in the 19 years.”
Winning the Milton J. LeBlanc Memorial Tuna Cup for landing the heaviest bluefin tuna this year was the Atlantic Angler, captained by Joel Jacquard, with a 754-pound catch.
The Robyn Jade, captained by Stephen d’Entremont, caught the heaviest bluefin from the Hell Hole, which weighed in at 415 pounds. The Irish Rebel, captained by Preston Owen, recorded the heaviest overall weight caught for the tournament, landing a bluefin, one bigeye and the lone albacore tuna for 879 pounds.
Each year the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival provides an opportunity for Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) science to collect samples of the giant bluefin, including the ear bones from the fish and tissue samples for genetics.
“We started a long-term program in 2010 and it’s been ongoing since then,” said Dheeraj Busawon, a biologist with DFO who was on the Wedgeport Breakwater wharf for the tournament weigh-ins.
“We sample about 400 to 500 fish every year from various regions, the Gulf, Martimes and Newfoundland.
Through the research, Busawon said scientists can tell the age of the fish, they can track the cohorts coming into the fishery and can determine the mix of which of the two bluefin tuna stocks, Mediterranean or Gulf of Mexico, are in Canadian waters.
“There’s a lot of information we can get from all of this,” he said.
Busawon said the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival is a great community event and really fun to attend.
