The Bluefish Tuna is back in Norwegian waters

As the first fishing vessel with Norwegian quota for the Blue Tuna , MS Hillersøy friday last week had a successful catch of 190 fish with an average weight between 170 and 300 kg a piece.

Norway waters is at the very edge of where the bluefin Tuna will hunt. A small population of Tuna will remain around the spawning grounds further south. When the population increases, the fish will wander further north to graze.
This catch is a clear indication that the population has increased says Leif Nøttestad, reasearches at the Marine Biology Institute in Bergen and a specialist in the field. According to Nøttestad, it seems like the population has soard, thanks to international cooperation and regulation in the field.'' This is a story about a population that has been way down in the basement''. A number of unpopular measures have been taken to regulate the fisheries , and hopefully we can harvest the fruits of ten years of hard management , he says. Nøttestad emphasizes that the large stocks of mackrel and now more bluefin tuna this far north has nothing to do with climate changes . This is a story about good management of stocks. It is the size of the population that determines migration . Both these species can live in waters anywhere between five to 25 degree water . The 2016 Norwegian quota of bluefin tuna is 43.7 tons , so there is little left after the " Hillersøy " catch of 32 tons. In total there are 30 coutries sharing a quota between 15 - 20.000 tons he says.

The Norway Post/Picture WWF