Anglers land giant tuna worth £3MILLION off Irish coast before allowing it to swim away

Anglers land giant tuna worth £3MILLION off Irish coast before allowing it to swim away as part of programme to increase fish stocks in Atlantic

  • Fishermen catch 600lb bluefin tuna fish and even manage to get a photo with it
  • Dave Edwards made the catch near Courtmacshery, on Ireland’s Southern coast
  • The rare catch would reportedly be worth more than two million pounds in Japan
  • But the anglers had to let it go and tag the rare fish for research purposes

Three fisherman have caught a massive 600lbs bluefin tuna fish off the coast of Ireland.

Dave Edwards, of West Cork, Ireland, caught the rare tuna- and even managed to get a photo with it while it was being reeled in to the side of the boat. 

The rare catch is one of the most powerful fish in the Atlantic Ocean and could be worth up to more than two and a half million pounds (€3million) in Japan, the Irish Mirror reported.

The crew were on board the Silver Dawn boat operated by West Cork Charters, which is involved in a bluefin tagging programme. The joyous anglers posed for a photo themselves to mark the occasion

Dave Edwards made the catch near Courtmacsherry, which is around an hour’s drive away from Cork.

Mr Edwards, of West Cork, Ireland, caught the rare tuna- and even managed to get a photo while it was being reeled in to the side of the boat

Mr Edwards, of West Cork, Ireland, caught the rare tuna- and even managed to get a photo while it was being reeled in to the side of the boat

Mr Edwards, along with fellow anglers Darren O’Sullivan and Henk Veldman, managed to catch the first bluefin tuna ever found off the south coast of Ireland. 

The fish is exactly eight and a half feet long and the joyous anglers posed for a photo themselves to mark the occasion. 

The fishermen had to tag their hefty catch and put it back as part of a conservation project. 

The fish goes past the coastline on its migration back from the Mediterranean, according to a local fishing guide. 

Because of the size of the fish, the crew had to tag and release it while it was still in the water. 

The crew were on board the Silver Dawn boat operated by West Cork Charters, which is involved in a bluefin tagging programme.

The programme means that when crews catch a bluefin tuna, they must ‘tag’ the fish to help record data about the species.

Fisherman Dave Edwards suggested that they had fared better because of ‘curbing the massive Japanese fleet that was targeting a few years back’. 

The fish goes past the coastline on its migration back from the Mediterranean. A file photo of what the fish looks like underwater is pictured above [File photo]

The fish goes past the coastline on its migration back from the Mediterranean. A file photo of what the fish looks like underwater is pictured above [File photo]

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