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THE first supermarket has started selling line-caught tuna – straight from Newlyn's fish market.
The fish are being landed by the Nova Spero and Charisma
twice weekly with fresh deliveries direct to more than 100 Morrisons
stores throughout the country. Matthew Bailey, fish buyer at Morrisons,
said: "We know the men who catch these fish, where and how they catch
them and even the names of the boats they fish from. This is
traceability, quality and freshness at its best."
One of the many challenges the fishing industry faces is the prevention of individual species from being over fished.
As
a result, fish stocks are controlled by quota set under management
plans guided by scientists and the Cornish fishermen have worked with
industry experts to ensure that tuna found in the Bay of Biscay is
fished within quota and responsibly. Line-caught means to catch fish by
towing a lure or baited hook behind a slow-moving boat. Attached to the
end of each line is a lure which is shaped to look like squid and comes
in a wide variety of colours. Due to the small number of lines (less
than 14) dragged behind the boats, fishermen cannot catch hundreds or
even thousands of tuna at a time – even when there are hundreds or
thousands in the immediate vicinity of a boat.
The fishermen must catch the tuna one at a time, which automatically restricts harvest rates.
For more information visit www.cornishtuna.com
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN
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Last year Newlyn Market had the opportunity to market Bonito but seemed to be unable or unwilling to rise to the exciting challenge of exploiting this unique opportunity to the benefit of all concerned.
This marketing fiasco led to the Bonito being removed from Newlyn and sent to Plymouth for sale where much better returns were achieved by Plymouth Traler Agents. M&J Fisheries spotting the potential for this awesome produce subsequently contracted with the boats to take the entire catch at a fair fixed price for the 2008 season.
If it was left to Newlyn Market there would probably no longer be a developing, healthy, highly sustainable fishery for line caught Biscay Tuna.