A three-day tournament is taking place in Falmouth this week, during which over 200 people will be permitted to torture an endangered giant of the sea: the bluefin tuna. Protect the Wild urges readers to speak out against this state-backed, adrenaline- and money-driven cruelty towards these fishes, whose recovery in British waters remains precarious after disappearing for decades.
Bluefin tuna only started returning to the UK’s south-western waters around 2014. The International Union for Conservation of Nature released a global assessment of the species the following year, which determined that it is endangered. Overfishing is the main cause of the fish’s decline, which is precisely what led to its disappearance from the UK in the 1960s.
So, in its infinite wisdom, what did the UK government do upon the bluefin tuna’s miraculous return to its territorial waters? It quickly acted to ensure that people can exploit the species again – both commercially and recreationally.
The upcoming UK Bluefin Tuna Championships 2025 falls into the latter camp. Between 4 and 6 September, over 200 people will set off in around 30 boats in Falmouth to ‘catch and release’ bluefin tuna.
In association with fishing interests like the Angling Trust, the government introduced the bluefin tuna recreational fishery, which the championship is part of, in 2024. They argue that it “presents a fantastic opportunity for recreational anglers, charter skippers and the tourism and hospitality sectors in the coastal ports associated with the fishery.”
The fishery has evolved from an initiative launched in 2021, called the CatcH And Release Tagging (CHART) programme. Some recreational anglers were involved in this programme too, although they were trained and heavily regulated, according to Fishing News. The programme included scientific elements, such as caught tuna being measured and/or tagged, in order to study the fishes’ abundance, distribution, and behaviour.
Organisers of the Falmouth event have crowed about how much money the tournament will bring in to Cornwall’s economy. They also insist that it is angler’s ‘passion’ for these fish that motivates them to take part. Chair of the UK Bluefin Tuna Association (UKBFTA), Tim Macpherson, told the BBC:
“I can’t emphasise enough how passionate we are about looking after these fish.”
Macpherson doth protest too much, methinks – and it’s not hard to see why. Despite organisers’ insistence about participants’ good intentions, Protect the Wild does not believe this tournament or the wider recreational fishery is about either science or appreciation of wildlife. It’s about people getting their rocks off by torturing one of the ocean’s biggest bony fishes, and knowingly putting the lives of these tuna at risk in the process.
Not a game for tuna
In a recent article, George Monbiot explained what will happen in the tournament:
“the paying customer (the angler) sits in a boat while the professional skipper motors up and down, trailing a set of lures. When a tuna is hooked, the angler, strapped into a harness, either stands or sits in what is called the “fighting chair” and “plays” the fish to exhaustion: a one-sided fight of 30 minutes or more.”
By ‘plays’, Monbiot means that the angler will have a blast trying to prevent panicked, hooked tuna from freeing themselves. Naturally, these fish will fight to get away from the predator (the angler) who has painfully impaled and captured them. And the attempt fishes make to break for freedom is what anglers call ‘play’.
That word choice in itself reveals how little anglers actually respect and care for wildlife, and whose interests are prioritised in this ‘sport’.
Once the angler’s ‘play’ has exhausted the fish, they will no longer be able to fight. At this point, a designated crew member is meant to handle the tuna to collect data, such as measurements, while they are still in the water. After this, the crew is supposed to dedicate some time to ensuring the fish has ‘recovered’ from the horrifying ordeal before releasing them back.
Put simply, this is an atrocious way to treat wildlife – and it’s a dangerous one.
Putting tuna at risk
Although the code of conduct for the fishery instructs anglers to keep “fight time to a minimum to optimise fish welfare,” examples show that many maximise their time ‘playing’ with the fish. After all, it is this part of the activity that gives anglers the adrenaline hit they seek.
Guidance from UKBFTA also warns that the handling process is “amongst the most stressful, and dangerous periods for fish,” while the recovery process is “the single biggest factor in the post release survival” of the fishes.
The trauma of the whole event is often physically evident, the guidance suggests, through a dulling of the fishes’ body colour and their eyes going glassy.
As Monbiot pointed out, bluefin tuna “overheat when forced into sustained flight” because they are partially warm-blooded. As a result, they have to cool down quickly after release by diving into deeper, colder water, he said.
Yet, the UK government permits anglers to release the fish back into shallower waters (over 40m deep) than its own research partnership recommended (no shallower than 50m deep), Monbiot stressed. And the research partnership’s recommendation itself appears to be pretty conservative, he suggested.
In other words, this recreational fishery risks killing bluefin tuna, either during the activity or afterwards. Indeed, Monbiot highlighted that Fishing News reported on trawlers pulling up dead bluefin tuna in 2024 for the first time, which the publication said was “highly likely” to be linked to the expansion of the charter angling fishery that year.
Labour ramps up permits
Bluefin tuna fishing advocates strenuously deny that increasing levels of recreational fishing in the UK risks high mortality rates witnessed in bluefin tuna fishing elsewhere. An Australian study determined that 17% of caught tuna do not survive the ordeal in the long run.
However, the UK fishery relies on self-reporting from fishers about how many tuna die in the process and what condition alive individuals are in when released. So, any industry claims about low mortalities in the country’s fishery must be viewed in this context.
As Fishing News has highlighted, commercial fishermen, scientists, and wildlife advocates have all expressed concern at the potential levels of mortality the recreational fishery may cause. One scientist told the publication that the extremely low self-reported mortality rates in 2024 were “unbelievable.”
Meanwhile, Monbiot drew attention to comments of a charter boat skipper. In a podcast episode aired at the end of 2024, the skipper said, “I’ve seen loads of release shots on social media this year with fish going back,” Monbiot explained. Referring to the fishes’ chances of survival, the skipper concluded: “They’re fucked.”
Nonetheless, despite these clear risks and there being no estimates for numbers of endangered bluefin tuna in UK waters, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), a body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, increased permits in 2025. Last year, it issued just over 90 permits for recreational vessels. This year, the MMO has issued around 140 permits.
Considering the Labour government’s appalling anti-nature record since entering office in 2024, the dramatic escalation of recreational bluefin tuna fishing on its watch comes as no surprise. But Protect the Wild is wholly opposed to this state-sanctioned cruelty, which recklessly puts recently returned bluefin tuna – an endangered species – at risk. If you feel the same, express your concerns to the MMO here: bft.recreational@marinemanagement.org.uk
- Header image bluefin tuna photo by Ray Harrington on Unsplash