The sport of tuna fishing, which Ernest Hemingway claimed offered an entry ticket “into the presence of the old gods”, could be a boom industry in Cornwall, under plans being considered by ministers.
In the week Cornwall took on the US in the space industry – with mixed results – ministers looking to lure wealthy Americans to the county to exploit the return of bluefin tuna to UK waters after an absence of 50 years.
“Sport fishing for big fish around the world is a very high value activity,” said Tim Macpherson, of the British Bluefin Tuna association. “We can bring a significant fishery to one of the most deprived areas in the UK.”
Mark Spencer, the fisheries minister, is considering creating a licensed recreational fishery, which would require changes to the law. “You’re going to get a lot of Americans,” said one senior government figure.
Many people are willing to pay big money to follow in the footsteps of Hemingway, who wrote about the epic struggle between humans and tuna, which usually weigh up to 250kg.
‘Sport fishing for big fish around the world is a high value activity,’ Tim Macpherson, of the British Bluefin Tuna association © Tim Macpherson
“If you land a big tuna after a six-hour fight, fighting a man with a fish until your muscles are sick with unceasing tension, and finally bring him up alongside the boat, green-blue and silver in the lazy ocean, you will be cleansed and will can enter without shame into the presence of the elder gods, and will give them welcome,” he wrote in 1922.
Cornwall, in the south-west of England, has achieved remarkable status, with expensive homes acquired by wealthy Londoners sitting alongside impoverished areas.
In 2021, the county will host the G7 summit, with world leaders treated to a barbecue on the golden sands of Carbis Bay, and this month Newquay airport in Cornwall hosted a major – but abortive – satellite launch.
The rocket that carries the satellite into orbit experiences an “anomaly”. Shares in Virgin Orbit fell sharply after the failure of Britain’s historic attempt to launch the first commercial satellite from western Europe.
A limited number of boats in the UK have been allowed to take anglers out for the past two years to catch, release and tag bluefin tuna, under a scientific research scheme.
More than 1,000 fish were caught and released in 2022. The fish were not boarded, but pulled along with the boat before being released.
The True Blue runs tuna fishing trips from Falmouth © Steve Porter
Spencer is considering a major expansion in the recreational fishing sector, after the scientific data has been analyzed and if he is convinced that tuna stocks are given adequate protection.
“The return of Atlantic bluefin tuna to British waters is an exciting opportunity that could benefit fishing communities and the tourism industry,” Spencer told the Financial Times.
The UK has been given a quota of 63 tonnes of bluefin tuna under an international conservation agreement. Spencer has been asked by the fishing industry to allow the development of recreational tuna fishing and small-scale commercial fishing.
Steve Porter, captain of Falmouth-based True Blue, which runs tuna fishing trips under the tagging program, said there was a “huge market”.
He added: “People pay £1,200 a day to catch tuna. They can stay in hotels, go to pubs, eat in restaurants. The benefits to the local economy are huge and the fish are still in the water.
These anglers are “quite wealthy — people who can shoot,” Porter added. He said that catching tuna “takes us back to the primeval cave age – something in our bodies wants us to fight this animal”.
Stuart Singleton-White, head of campaigns at the Angling Trust, said the fishery had the potential to bring experienced anglers “from all over the world” to Cornwall, Devon and further up the west coast.
The Marine Conservation Society warns, however, that “every fishery for this species must be carefully monitored and managed” because “we are not yet sure that [bluefin tuna] Stocks in the country are healthy enough to withstand high levels of fishing pressure.
Hugo Tagholm, executive director for the UK-based conservation group Oceana, said the group “would like to see replenishment again [bluefin tuna] stock, before any recreational angling is considered which will put people under considerable stress”.
Porter attributed the return of bluefin tuna – which disappeared off the British coast in the mid-20th century due to overfishing – to recovering sardine stocks, providing prey for larger fish, and warmer temperatures due to the movement of the Gulf Stream. The Atlantic bluefin tuna is unofficially classified as endangered as of 2021.
Before it disappeared, big game tuna fishing was a popular activity in Scarborough and Whitby on the east coast of England, and is said to have attracted movie stars such as John Wayne and Errol Flynn.