Dumb it down

A giant tuna was caught in Kerry this week. It was worth €500,000 if handled correctly. It wasn’t.

Back up the boat there, explain this to me?

Okay, earlier this week Tom Kennedy was 90kms out into the Atlantic off the Dingle coast, manning his two trawlers Fiona 2 and Ocean Venture, when he caught a big one, a real big one.

How big?

Tom hauled in a bluefin tuna that was six-foot long and weighed a can-busting 308lbs.

That’s a really big fish...

Indeed it is. Have a look at it below. And it could have been Tom’s retirement fund too if he had the right equipment.

How?

Well bluefin tuna is very prized in Japan for sushi. A similar size fish was caught off the Japanese coast in January and it fetched almost €600,000.

Wow. So why is Tom not kicking back now in Dingle, planning his next holiday?

Because to keep the fish fresh enough to export to Japan he would have had to freeze his enormous catch within 20 minutes. He couldn’t do that so the fish is destined to be eaten locally.

Will he get any money for it?

Tom reckons that the fish will net him a couple of hundred euro and he is confident that all the local restaurants and bars will run enough tuna specials to get through the giant fish.

Better than nothing I suppose. While we’re at it, any other giant fish stories?

Well, earlier this year the largest trout in 118 years was caught in Lough Corrib. That fish was only 24lbs though, making it a tiddler compared to the giant trout?

And did it end up on some Galway dinner plates?

Nope, it was stuffed and mounted in Burke’s Bar in Clonbur, near the Lough.

It never works out for the fish does it?

No… no it doesn’t.

Picture credit: Dingle Post