Tagging project shows bluefin tuna travel thousands of miles to Jersey waters
Data from a bluefin tuna satellite tagging project has revealed that these highly-prized fish migrate thousands of miles to feed in Jersey waters, travelling from as far as Turkey.
The project – now in its second year – uses satellite tags to understand the movement and behaviour of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which have been regularly spotted in Jersey’s territorial waters since 2016.
The Government of Jersey’s Marine Resources team tagged seven bluefin tuna in 2021, and a further seven fish this year. The tags remain on the fish for one or two years, until the tag automatically detaches.
Four of the seven tags deployed in 2021 have now been collected by Marine Resources and analysed by the University of Exeter.
Alex Plaster, Marine Science and Research Officer at the Government of Jersey, said: ‘The data we receive from the satellite tags tells us crucial information to manage this resource such as how long they are in our waters for and what they are doing here.’
