We left the jetty at 6am and returned to a similar spot as the day before to look for wahoo. There was very few Wahoo today though and all was pretty quiet for the morning. we decided to check one edge of the reef for dogtooth tuna before we went back in. We jumped in the water and started swimming towards the drop off which took about 30mins. soon as we found the drop off 2 doggies came in to have a look at my flasher, one was very big. I duck dived and swum down the flasher, the doggie started to move deeper so i continued to glide down towards it and got in range at 28m. I aimed for the brain and pulled the trigger, he kicked just as i had done so causing the shaft to land in his back. He dived for the bottom with my 30m hardline and foam float flying past me at about 15m and my bungee strecthed out tight. Not 100% confident on the shot i didnt touch my float and let the bungee do its work. soon after my 1x riffe 2 atmosphere got dragged under and dissapeared. 5 minutes later it re appeared and slowly made its way back to the surface. i gently played the doggie towards the surface. once it was closer to the surface i could see the slip tip was only engaged on the inside of its skin. Though he was already bloated i didnt want this fish to slip of and sink into the deep so i asked for a second shot gun. Brandon gave me his gun which i knew had to be reloaded by myself after reading the IUSA/IBSRC regulations after shooting my wahoo the day before so i quickly done so and dived on the doggie putting a kill shot in the back of its head and out its jaw stoning it. I brought the fish to the surface and it was done, we took photos then i handed it to the captain who had help from gerard grave dragging it over the side into the boat. We then left to weigh the fish and take measurments stopping for a quick photo in the lagoon on the way in. ****************************************************************
Previous world-record dog tooth tuna for men—91kilograms (200.4 pounds) by Cameron Kirkconnell February 4, 2006 at East Nusa, Tengara, Indonesia |
| Description of the hunt by Cameron Kirkconnell With a rain squall coming hard on us and the visibility darkening we decided on one last drift. Fighting his way out of a whirlpool a while later Craig breaks a blade on his fin before we can catch him with the boat. Handing me his tuna gun he smiles and says, "This is it, this is the one, make it count, I'll ride shotgun and bring the second gun so you can shoot your fish twice..." 5 minutes later i was relaxed and diving down through the warm surface layer to the cooler water below relishing the change in temperature that these type of Tuna love so much. At 50 feet i stopped kicking and glided down to find a school of dogtooth tuna surrounding me from 15 to 120 lbs. Patiently i glided deeper and caught sight of the black back of a slightly bigger one on the bottom at 90 feet. Passing the other smaller tuna the big fish turned slightly just as i reached the end of my float line and i squeezed the trigger. Thunk! The fish immediately shook his gills and then made two circles on the bottom banging the shaft against the coral in an attempt to break free of the object now lodged in his after half. As the great fish strained for deep water i pushed hard for sunlight and grabbed my passing floats on the surface just in time to tell Craig, " I shot a TOAD!!!!" Without pulling the first float under the fish headed for deep water. With my hands on the bungey I worked my way towards the fish and after only 45 seconds felt him stop kicking. Slowly but firmly I worked him towards me and again he powered down only to stop again. Nervous the fish would pull out i fought him as gingerly as possible trying to drown him by pulling him backwards every time he stopped. Within a few minutes the fish was in sight and I could see he was hurt bad but there was no way i was going to lose this fish. Grabbing my 115 Omer <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />America with a reel from Craig, I quickly reloaded, dove and approached him. At 12 feet my lungs were screaming for air at the exertion of the last few minutes and I prayed that my shaking hands would aim true.. whoosh! The fish went stiff and i surfaced pulling the ever growing fish to me. Oh my god. Oh my god. I can't wrap my arms around him! I have never screamed so loud in my life. The rocky cliffs a mile distant reverberated with the sound of my voice and then mingled with that of Craigs and the boat driver. With a raging 10 kt current approaching I handed the tail of the fish to the boat driver and jumped in the boat to relieve him but even with Craig and I pulling we could not budge the fish from the water. Trailing the fish to calm waters the three of us pulled the beast into the boat and then there was complete silence. Looking at the 6 ft long fish at my feet my mind shut down and I was flooded with emotion at what I had before me. Never in my life could i have imagined this possible. Craig and I stared in utter silent disbelief. Dogtooth Tuna. What I have always preached as the most challenging and difficult fish in the world to land. Diving 30 miles from civilization in 6-10 kts of current. The whitewater rafting we had done the week before doesn't even compare to the whirlpools and down currents and 5 ft standing waves we encounter every drift here. All the nights worrying about Malaria and days spent unsuccessfully trying to convince local fisherman to take us to the ends of the earth were forgotten. Before us lay the fruits of all our efforts and the answer to all our dreams. 200.4 lbs. 6 feet long and 4.5 feet in girth. I am the luckiest man alive. Cameron |
**************************************************************** Current world-record dog tooth tuna for men—84.0kilograms (185 punds) by Pierre Baubet December 7, 2004 at Geyser Bank, Mozambic Channel |
| Description of the hunt When the weather is fine we usually go fishing on the Geyser bank which is about
92 miles off the coast of Mayotte, a small French island in the Comoro Archipelago at the
entrance to the Mozambique Channel. On that very morning after a few hours spent trying
unsuccessfully to catch big tuna fishes, we decided to move out towards the far south end
of the bank. The stream was rather strong and the water unclear.
While I was diving with my spear gun RIFFE C4 (the smallest on board) and our flasher, my teammate shot a 40kg tuna fish. At that very moment I caught sight of a much larger tuna which was swimming a bit further away. As my mate was having a hard time swimming up with his catch, the much bigger tuna came closer and seemed most interested in our equipment. That’s where he was wrong! Everything went fast. I succeeded in getting very close to it, aimed, pressed the trigger and shot him stone-dead. As I swam back up I had a fantastic feeling of triumph. Loading the fish on board was another story!!! We took a few pictures and then headed back to Mamoudzou, capital city of Mayotte. It ws getting late and we had a long way to go. When we weighed the fish at the island’s cooperative, the scale showed 84.100 KG. It was a nice day!!! |
| ************************************************
Former world-record dogtooth tuna for men—83.00 kilograms (182.8 pounds) I was diving this afternoon with Greg Pickering, Ted Lougher, Pat Mullens, Matt Hare, Gunther Phringle, Mark Barry and Mark Swavley. Greg had just surfaced after losing his gun, rig and float line to a large Tuna. I then dived running into the same school of Tuna, hitting one just behind the head. As I swam to the surface my two floats passed me and tangled in Matt Hare’s rig which I grabbed as I surfaced and stopped the fish from going any further. I unclipped Matt’s gun and handed it to him and then started to slowly pull the fish to the surface. After a few minuted my gun was in sight. Greg Pickering handed me an unloaded gun which I loaded, then handed back to him until I was ready. When the fish was in sight, I grabbed the gun and swam down and shot the fish for a second time. The last part of the fight can be seen on the video which also has the filming of the scales. Ians story for Hawaiian Skin Diver Magazine The Coral Sea is situated off the North East side of the Australian coast line, and has some of the Country’s best diving with lots of large fish, clear water and plenty of sharks. To get to our destination involved a 2 hour flight from Sydney to Gladstone and then a 30 hour boat trip on the "Booby Bird." This boat which is 80' long was well equipped and made our 12 day diving expedition most enjoyable. As a newcomer to bluewater hunting (as most Aussies are), I quickly realized that I wasn’t as well prepared as I should have been. The first fish I shot was a Dog Tooth Tuna of about 45-50 kg and I was surprised at its strength as it submerged my Riffe Float for a short time while towing me along the reef, but this excitement was short lived as a large group of sharks quickly devoured the fish spear and slip tip! After that dive I was back to using a trusty pranger (multi prong heard) on a 3/8 6' shaft, I also added another small float to the back of my float. To attract the Tuna we had to use burley as we drifted the reef edges. This also attracted lots of sharks with up to 5 different species being present at the one time. Everyone on the trip had many changes at large Tuna, Wahoo, big Wrasse, small Yellowfin and lots of reef fish. As the trip progressed the divers became more confident with their diving and more effective at attracting the dog tooth in close. On one afternoon after moving to a different section of reef we found a school of Tuna from 70-100 kg range and after about 1 hour of diving I was lucky enough to land an 83 kg (pending new world record) Dog Tooth Tuna. This was after Gunther Phringle lost a spear, Ted Lougher pulled out a fish and Greg Pickering lost his entire rig of float gun and 100' bungee which made it an expensive afternoon for Greg. Greg who is Australia’s most experienced bluewater hunter was even surprised at the fishes strength as it stretched his bungee and pulled his Riffe float down before he could even reach the surface. My luck started the dive after Greg’s when a group of large fish swam in and I was able to spear one just behind the head with a pranger. The fish turning white and rolling over for a few seconds before heading over a platform, we were diving on at about 100' and heading for the bottom 300' below. As I headed for the surface my float passed me heading for the bottom, tangled in another divers rig which I grabbed and stopped my float disappearing like Greg’s. Luck was on my side this day with the shot being a good one and the fish was quickly pulled back to the surface and away from the sharks. ******************************************************** Jean Napier Current world-record dogtooth tuna for women—52.00 kilograms (114.6 pounds) as told to Terry Maas South African Jean Napier holds her country’s record for dogtooth tuna. Jean had been diving for nine years before her big chance came. She started like many of us—learning to scuba dive. Her instructors and friends were avid spearfishermen and she was soon hooked on the sport as well. Diving in the South African National Championships four consecutive years, she always scored well, placing in the top half of the individuals competing.In 1989, Jean traveled to Inhaca Island off Mozambique, East Africa on a beautiful, hot, windless day. Once in the crystal-clear waters, she headed for a drop-off where she knew large shoals of fish congregated. Kicking strongly in the current, just to stay in place, she saw large reef fish—potato cod and brindle bass—but no big pelagic fish. Returning to the boat hours later, she was amazed to see a lone dogtooth tunny (South African for tuna) swimming in eight meters of water just below the boat. "I dove down to its level and made a good shot, midbody at very close range," she recalls. "It took off at fair speed, heading straight for the bottom in 12 meters. I managed to hold it off the reef while playing it gently, in order to avoid pulling the spear free. I surfaced, yelled for help, and took off at marathon speed trying to keep up with the fish and thus ease pressure on the float line. By this time I’d realized that this was a big fish and not to be lost at any cost." Jean’s friends arrived in an inflatable boat and followed her for another 10 minutes, spare gun ready. The struggling fish attracted a huge potato bass and another very big tunny. After another 10 minutes, the fish tired enough to pull it to the surface and load it into the inflatable. Amazingly, her spear was not bent, but the clip holding it had to be severed with wire cutters. "We returned to the yacht and hauled it aboard with ropes," she remembers proudly. "I had to cut it into four pieces to weigh it as our scale registered only 20 kilos. It weighed 52 kilos (114 pounds)—a record for me, a South African record and possibly a world record." ******************************************************** Previous world-record dogtooth tuna for men—76.50 kilograms (168.7 pounds) by Andrew Boomer On November 19, 1996, at Kato Reef, on the Great Barrier Reef, some 250 miles from the Australian mainland, Andrew Boomer experienced the dive of a lifetime. Accompanied by Bob McComb, Boomer swam to within 100 meters of Kato Island. Against a strong current Boomer and Bob went to a spot where they witnessed Ted Lougher spear and land a giant dog tooth tuna the previous day. With 100 ft. visibility Boomer had no trouble spotting the abundant large sailfish and giant trevally. Forcing himself to stay focused Boomer swam to the edge of the reef where he was rewarded by spotting a large school of dog tooth tuna. Unaware of his presence, the tuna were milling around on the sandy bottom, fifty feet below. Boomer bent at the waist and started his silent decent. As he dropped effortlessly, he concentrated on what he thought was the largest fish among the school. Dropping further he noticed the movements of larger fish on the perimeter of the school. After determining that the larger fish were to far away Boomer returned his focus to the fish he originally targeted. As he approached the sandy bottom a group of larger fish broke away from the school and swam beside him. With the sides of the great fish exposed, Boomer took aim with his Riffe blue water gun. As Boomer squeezed the trigger he had to trust in the five barbed, eight inch, "pranger" that his fellow Australians had come to favor as a tip for use with the dog tooth tuna. When the arrow struck the fish, the fish came to a sudden stop. Boomer started for the surface and prepared himself for the tremendous burst the dog tooth are famous for. As he passed his nylon trail line and 75 ft. bungie, Boomer noticed the fish was only slightly moving his huge tail. Overwhelmed with anticipation and now on the surface, Boomer held onto his line. The fish was only slightly moving and the other fish he had been swimming with were now rejoining the school. Boomer knew the area was infested with black tip and white tip sharks but none were showing despite the blood now present in the water. He knew he had to retrieve the fish or risk loosing it. He carefully raised the massive tuna expecting it to burst into a rage and fiercely swim away with all of his rigging. As the giant tuna neared the surface Boomer grabbed the pranger and swam the fish to the chase boat without incident. The fish was so heavy that a man had to lean over the opposite side of the boat to offset the weight of the fish coming over the side. After returning to the mother boat, the fish was weighed onboard. The fish weighed 78.5 kilos on the boat but Boomer took the advice of Greg Pickering and froze the fish hole to allow for weighing on certified scales. The fish was weighed at Gladstone Queensland on government tested scales on November 22, 1996. The certified weight of Boomer's dog tooth tuna was 76.5 kilos. ************************************************** Meritorious Award: Erik Krahn 84.75 Kg Dog Tooth Tuna
Description of the Hunt By Erik Krahn December 11th was the last day
for fishing on this trip. The night
before we all decided to get in the water as soon as possible so 6:30 am was the time we
were loaded up in the dory. Our boat had Mike
Richardson, Andrew Tucker, Jose Maria Garcia and I as the fishermen. Shane Fitzmaurice was our guide for the day with
Adam Houghton running the dory.
Adam and Shane worked together to line us up with the spot and get us in the water up current for the first drift of the morning. I placed my floats in the water along with my
bungie line and slipped over the side with gun in hand.
After loading six 5/8 inch power bands you need a little time to calm down
so I relaxed there watching Jose getting loaded up. For
some reason, Mike and Andrew decided not to get in so Jose and I were the only ones in the
water, except for Ron Mullins who was in another dory.
Once we were ready we began to swim slowly towards the reef wall that marks the
beginning of a point that juts out into much deeper water.
The visibility was probably 25 – 30 meters.
The ocean was calm and it felt good to be in the water. A light current was running but if you stayed in
the eddy caused by the reef wall, you could hang out by the drop off with little effort. Within 15 minutes of water time I see Dogtooth
Tuna. A small school of seven fish made a
little loop off the tip of the point and came back around under me. I slipped under the surface to take a closer look. Drifting down to about 18 meters, I could see the
tunas making a circle, looping back to check me out. I
slowly turned towards them and picked out the largest one and POW, let him have it. The tuna was small but it would make some great
sashimi for the evening feed. While working
with this fish, the current grabbed me and pulled me out of position so I held my arm up
for a ride. After a few minutes I began to
yell at the only dory I could see. The driver
told me that Adam had to go back to the Kanimbla because the plug was not replaced and our
dory was taking on water. Joel helped me into
his dory and gave me a ride back up current to get back with my group.
In the water once again and trying to calm down after loading up the gun, I slowly
work my way to the drop off. As I reach the
corner, another small group of tuna goes by. I
check my watch and about 20 minutes has past since my first shot. I begin to swim back and forth along the edge,
staying in the eddy. Within 15 minutes I see
another group of small tuna go by. Now I am
paying attention to my watch because there seems to be a pattern in progress. In the distance I hear a gun go off. Peering into the blue I see Ron coming up from a
deep dive. His big game float turns up on its
end and begins moving towards deeper water. Another
15 minutes goes by and I see a nice tuna come around the corner. It looks to be about 25 - 30 kilos. One quick breath and I drop down to see if I can
get her attention. Dropping down through 15
meters I can see the tuna is not going to turn around so I begin to turn myself to face
the corner of the reef. Drifting down thru
about 20 meters, I see a large Dogtooth, around 60 kilos, coming up straight vertical,
pinched between me and the reef wall. I slowly
swing the gun and line up for a shot. I pull
the trigger when the fish is about 5 meters away and watch the spear penetrate. The shot is a little high but looks to be solid,
about halfway between the spine and the dorsal fin. I
swim towards the surface, staying away from my bungie line as the fish begins to sound. Reaching the surface, I have just enough time to
grab the loop handle on the back of the Riffe float. The
fish speeds off into the deep and yanks me down under water.
As I am pulled through about 5 -6 meters, I let go of the float and head for
the surface to breathe. I look down to see
both of my floats disappearing down through 30 plus meters with the Riffe float flattening
out like a pancake. I surface and begin yelling out to closest dory. The boat pulls up with Dr. Adam Smith and Ron looking over the side. “Where are your floats?” they ask. I say “I just shot a huge fish!!” Dr.
Smith tells me to hang to the rope on the side of the boat and look down for the floats
while they scan the surface. After about a
minute, the floats surface right next to Ron’s who also had shot a large tuna. His fish had wrapped itself around a coral head
“bombie” about 42 – 43 meters below. I
swam over and got a hold of the floats and began to retrieve my spear. I could feel a great weight at the end of the line
but could not see anything yet. After pulling
on the bungie about 6 or 7 times I felt the line go slack.
I continue to pull in the line but the spear comes back empty except for
some small chunks of meat. Looking down I
could see quite a few sharks shooting around all excited.
Feeling as though I have lost my only opportunity to land a good fish, I climb back
into the dory with Adam Houghton for another trip back up current. While I was fighting with my fish, Shane landed a
nice Dogtooth tuna with his small gun and a small inflatable float. Adam dropped me off and I got my gun loaded up
again. Once I got back to edge I went back to
work with Jose and Shane. We swam back and
forth along the edge working the burley. I
checked my watch and noticed that almost 30 minutes had passed since my last shot. I followed Jose out to the corner of the reef then
turned around to scan back towards Shane.
Two large dark shapes began to materialize at the edge of visibility. As I looked more closely I noticed the white spot
near the front of the tail that mark Dogtooth Tuna. Two
deep breaths and I dive. I angle my decent
toward the fish. They note my presence and
begin to veer off to the left. I completely
stop moving hoping they will turn. The tuna
make a small loop and head back towards the dropping burley.
I continue to hang motionless, dropping slowly.
The tuna bump thru the burley trail and then begin to arc towards me. I am down maybe 10 – 12 meters and the fish
swim straight in towards me and start to dive right under me. I slowly let my
Shane jumps into the dory with Adam to scan for the floats while I hang on the rope
off the side looking down into the water. Three
or four minutes pass and Adam sees the back of the Riffe float sticking up a short
distance away. As I get closer to the buoy I
can see the hard float is still being dragged down so I know something is still on the spear. Shane starts yelling at me “pull that thing
up, pull hard!!!!” He’s back
in the water now and begins filming the retrieval.
After a couple of pulls I can see the fish come into view. Although the spear just missed the spine, the shot
is well placed and has taken a heavy toll and fish has lost all of its fight. I did not even need a second shot. I get to the end of the bungie and the fish looks
big. As I continue to pull in the 10 plus
meters of shooting cable, this fish gets huge. Somehow
during all of this action my snorkel gets pulled off. I
stick my head out of the water and say “Where is my snorkel!?” I continue to work for a minute without the
snorkel. Finally I straddle the beast and work
with my knife to brain the fish. I roll into
the boat and grab the gills, Adam pulls with the gaff and Shane pushes from the water to
get the fish in the boat.
Once in the boat I look over at Jose. His
eyes are about to pop out of his head and his jaw is agape.
“That fish is HUGE!!!” he exclaims. Shane
jumps in the dory as Adam fires up the engine. Everyone
is just staring with amazement at the big tuna on the deck.
I once again yell “WOOOOHOOOO!!!!” It really is an incredible sight. After a lot of hand shakes, slaps on the back,
punches to the shoulder and more yelling, we are well on our way back to the Kanimbla.
Captain Bruce Stobo and deck hand Cameron are waiting on the dive platform when we
arrive. They work together to get the fish out
of the dory with the davit. Everyone else on
board the boat come running with cameras in hand. I
feel as if this is a dream and that it is not real. I
am speechless but my smile cannot get any bigger. Bruce
and After lunch Captain Bruce moves the Kanimbla around closer to Meritorious award—dogtooth tuna for men—59.6 kilograms (131.27 pounds) by Greg Bush Our trip to Scott Reef was organized by Steve Arrow for October 1996 onboard the yacht "Willie". Scott Reef is located approximately 120 nn NW of Broome, off the coast of Western Australia. Three divers made the trip, Steve Arrow, John Love and myself. We optimistically believed that we were the first to blue water hunt the area and hoped for a record fish. Also onboard were Kevin Stoney (skipper), Britt and Huey (deckhands). Our attempts at obtaining a record were guided by our knowledge of the rules at the time, and any lack of documentation is a result of our ignorance. 2. Gear Although an experienced spearfisherman and underwater hockey player, this was my first bluewater hunting trip. I borrowed a bigger gun from John (thanks for the spear Loraunt) and took all their advice on rigging. I dived with a locally made "Paxman" gun made by veteran diver Frank Paxman. The spear was a 14 mm x 1.3 mm stainless steel shaft with dual floppers. The gun was powered by twin megaton 20 mm rubbers. The gun was rigged in "fly-away" made so that when fired the stock of the gun remained in your hands for fending sharks if necessary. Our concerns proved to be unfounded. There were very few sharks at Scott Reef (alarmingly few) probably due to fishing pressure (legal) from numerous Indonesian small craft. The spear was connected to a 5 m x 400 lb stainless steel wire trace terminated with copper presses and a thimble. The main float line was 5 mm braided polypropylene tied to a 13B-2 Viny trawl float. The plastic spherical float was depth rated to 200 m and provided 26 kg of buoyancy. Attached to the main float was a Ronstat float with a further 30 m of 3 mm spectra rope contained in a pressure release canister. 3. The Hunt We had 5 and a half days available for diving. After four and a half days of solid time in the water our hopes for a record fish were waning. Combined we had shot and landed 3 good Dogtooth Tuna around 30 to 40 kgs and encountered other specimens of Dogtooth and Wahoo. For our last afternoon of diving we moved to the NW corner of the Northern reef. Conditions were ideal with swell less than 0.5 m, wind speed 5 kts and water visibility about 30 m. Tidal currents were reasonably strong (approximately 0.5 m/s). On this dive we (all three divers) drifted with the current with Huey following in the zodiac. We followed the edge of the gently sloping coral reef hanging mostly around the 20 - 30 m contours. Schools of Surgeon Fish and Fusiliers were in residence. After just 15 minutes in the water, as John surfaced from a dive, I saw the Dogtooth Tuna ahead in the distance cruising mid-water and straight towards us. I watched John to the surface to confirm he had not seen the fish, then duck dived to about 8 m. The Dogtooth Tuna approached close, turned broadside and eyed me as if to say Awhat are you doing in my territory@. I did not have time to position the gun carefully to select a shot, and accepted the mid body shot on offer at close range. The fish was stunned for an instant which gave me time to grab my float line on the way up to the surface before being towed into deeper water. The first float (26 kg) was pulled completely under water with the second following a short distance behind (not released). The tow and subsequent handling of the fish was conducted by myself only and took about 10 minutes, although time stood still in my perception. As soon as was possible I knifed the fish in the brain (Iki jimi). John took some underwater photographs and then I landed the fish on the zodiac by tying a short rope around its tail. The Dogtooth Tuna was caught on 23/10/96 at 14:00 WST (GMT + 8) and GPS location 13o54.143'S, 121 o51.497'E. 4. Weighing We judged the weight of the fish to be 60 kg and knew the current world spearfishing record was 55.8 kg from Terry Maas' BlueWater Hunting book. The fridge and freezers on the Willie would not fit the fish whole. We measured the fish with cloth tape as best we knew how. I then filleted the fish, placing the left fillet in a plastic bag, and the rest of the fish in another and put the bags in the freezer. Back in Broome the fish was weighed at Fortescue Seafoods. The left fillet weighed 10.6 kg and the remainder of the fish 49.0 kg to give a total weight of 59.6 kg. I believe the weight of the plastic bags was insignificant, and some weight was lost due to bleeding during filleting. 5. Aging Contemporary knowledge of the Dogtooth Tuna is limited compared to the commercially fished species. A question relevant to Atrophy hunters@ is the age of the larger fish. For example, during our 5 days of diving we shot two large Doggies each, but if these fish turn out to very old then we surely should only take one or none. We were aware that fish could be aged by counting annual growth rings in the ear bones (otolith). Inquiries lead us to Dr. John Gunn, leader of the Tuna Biology and Ecology Project at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industry Research Organization (CSIRO) Division of Marine Research, Tasmania, Australia. Dr. Gunn explained that the process of estimating age in tunas is difficult and requires a large sample of ear bones from throughout the size range of species before a relationship between size and age can be determined. Never-the-less he agreed to age this Tuna subject to the world spearfishing record claim and estimates an age of 9 to 10 years. We have an arrangement with CSIRO to begin collecting the ear bones for Dogtooth Tuna
and to archive them with catch details. Once a reasonable size collection is available it
is likely that aging will be possible via the CSIRO. In the meantime, we wish to encourage
other fishermen to contribute ear bone samples from fish of all sizes by: Mail your ear bone with date to: Steve Arrow, Arrow Pearling Co., 6 Rouse Head Road, North Fremantle, Western Australia 6159, Australia I believe the world community (amateur and professional) must obtain sustainable fishing of all species. When more reliable estimates of the age of large Dogtooth Tuna become available, we can better judge the impact of taking a few large fish. Above all other forms of fishing, spearfishing must lead the way to sustainable fishing because our catch is carefully preselected. We the divers know the damage done to the environment we love, not merely felt in terms of reduced catches, but seen with our eyes and felt with our soles. **************************************
Saturday June 21,
2004, the good weather returns. Pierre CHANLOUP and Stephan HORNUNG, two spearfishermen
set off for a cape in the south of Pierre Chanloup
|
