Sports fishery for tuna proposed

By Jim Brown

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

Efforts are underway to establish a unique catch-and-release sports fishery.

Officials from a Charlottetown consulting firm, representing a group of tuna fishers, have proposed inserting electronic tags into 50 captured tuna, beginning as soon as next year.

The goal is to learn what happens after the hook is removed and they are returned to the water.

“It will tell us if the fish lives or dies,” said Kenny Drake, a tuna fisherman and president of the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Association.

If the mortality rate is too high, then catch and release simply isn’t practical, said Drake.

Drake went on to say establishing a catch-and-release sports fishery could provide a good boost to the Island economy.

If all goes according to plan, the sports fishery would operate outside the regular tuna season and any tuna caught by sports fishers would not count towards the Island’s quota, said Drake.

The proposal was made to the PEIFA’s tuna advisory committee.

(From the Journal Pioneer)