A bluefin tuna breaching at Watergate yesterday shot by Megan Hemsworth.
The amazing Bluefin Tuna are back in the UK and Ireland in bigger numbers than ever with more and more sightings reported every day.
The fish pretty much disappeared from the coasts over 50 years ago for unexplained reasons, but now they are making a comeback as shown by this photo by Megan Hemsworth taken at Watergate yesterday.
The fish began to be spotted way off the south west coast of Cornwall around 2014 in growing numbers, but they are now being seen in large numbers on the north and south coasts of Cornwall, Devon and into Wales. No one is quite sure why they have returned however the the main theory is that they are flowing bait fish which are being driven north by ocean warming from areas such as the Med.
Feeding events such as this are now becoming a regular talking point, which is pretty amazing, and tag and release programmes are monitoring the fish. The fish are protected in UK waters.
They were common for a while with game fishing even taking place in the North Sea until the species mysteriously disappeared around 1954. There were sporadic sightings in other UK coastal waters until the 1990s, but the they too disappeared.
They feed on herring or sprats and the suggestion is that thousands of bluefin are now passing through, or are even resident in, our waters.
Scientists say more species could be heading towards the UK from places such as the Mediterranean and the coast of Africa as seas become warmer due to climate change, including several more shark species…
Dr Ken Collins, from the University of Southampton, based at the National Oceanography Centre and former administrator of the UK shark tagging programme, said: “It’s likely we will be seeing more sharks spread from warmer regions such as the Mediterranean Sea towards our waters in the UK over the next 30 years.
