Amazing BFT Study from University of Maine

Roccus7

Roccus7

Moderator
Staff member
Tuna Travel.webp


This satellite tag was deployed on a 109” (276.86 cm) Atlantic bluefin tuna in Canada in September, 2024. The tag was programmed for a 12-month duration, but popped off a little early around 11 months. This particular bluefin made quite the impression! This fish crossed the entire Atlantic in just under 2 months, then entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar in May 2025! We also observed that this fish stuck around the Med for the month of June, and then left in July to make its journey back towards the Northwest Atlantic! It is pretty amazing that Atlantic bluefin tuna can make these long journeys across the Atlantic in such a short amount of time! What an amazing opportunity we have to track these outstanding fish!
 
Roccus7 said:
View attachment 112690

This satellite tag was deployed on a 109” (276.86 cm) Atlantic bluefin tuna in Canada in September, 2024. The tag was programmed for a 12-month duration, but popped off a little early around 11 months. This particular bluefin made quite the impression! This fish crossed the entire Atlantic in just under 2 months, then entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar in May 2025! We also observed that this fish stuck around the Med for the month of June, and then left in July to make its journey back towards the Northwest Atlantic! It is pretty amazing that Atlantic bluefin tuna can make these long journeys across the Atlantic in such a short amount of time! What an amazing opportunity we have to track these outstanding fish!
Click to expand...
IIRC it was not that long ago the thinking between ICCAT and NOAA was that there were two distinct, and different Atlantic BFT, east and west, that didn’t cross the oceans and intermix. I think it was mostly ICCAT’s stance so as to not have to follow NOAA’s quota’s???
 
MakoMatt said:
IIRC it was not that long ago the thinking between ICCAT and NOAA was that there were two distinct, and different Atlantic BFT, east and west, that didn’t cross the oceans and intermix. I think it was mostly ICCAT’s stance so as to not have to follow NOAA’s quota’s???
Click to expand...
Yes, used to be said that there were 3 separate populations, Western Atlantic, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. There was some talk that Gulf of Mexico was a separate population too.
 
Here’s another amazing BFT satellite tag travel data……..

“This satellite tag was deployed on a 111 inch (281.94 cm) Atlantic bluefin tuna in Canada during October of 2022. The tag stayed on the fish for just under 9 months traveling down the East Coast and eventually entering into the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America in Feburary 2023, where it stays for March & April, presumably to spawn. After the fish leaves the Gulf, it heads right back up to Canada. The tag popped off of the fish in June of 2023 very close to where the fish was initially tagged. This fish traveled 10,016.25 cumulative miles. How cool is that!”

IMG_1136.webp
 

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 3,016 (members: 15, guests: 3,001)

Latest posts

Fishing Reports

Latest articles

Latest posts

Back
Top