A bluefin tuna has been caught, tagged and released for the first time in Danish waters.
Westin CEO and angler Thomas Petersen Eldor, Jesper Petersen and Jesper’s son Alexander Petersen became the first team to accomplish the feat, which took place Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, according to a press release from Fairpoint Outdoors, based in Denmark.
DTU Aqua, SLU Aqua, ICCAT and WWF launched their tagging program with help from 100 volunteer anglers with the goal of collecting data about the tuna species’ migration routes, including why they suddenly are back in Scandinavian waters after a 50-year absence.
History was made after three hours of fishing, followed by a hard and intense fight with Jesper behind the rod. Once the giant fish was landed, the team quickly handed the fish over to the scientist from DTU Aqua and ICCAT, who tagged and released the 628-pound fish back into the water.
The project’s high-tech satellite tags will measure and store information about the fish’s swimming depth, the surrounding water temperature and light conditions. All of this data can help make bluefin tuna fishing more sustainable.
