The 2021 bluefin tuna season has been much tougher for skippers than last year’s, with fish being thin on the ground off the south coast and seemingly less abundant in the north.

Tuna.ie are still keeping their 2021 scoreboard ticking over in Donegal Bay though, skipper Adrian Molloy managing four fish to the boat from six hook ups on Friday last and another fish or two on Sunday in choppy seas to bring his season’s total to 80 fish tagged under the Tuna CHART tagging programme.

Ewings Sea Angling and Boat Charters fishing from the Sligo side also managed to tag a few fish on Friday – a total of three from four hook ups for them.

It is unlikely that skippers will reach the staggering figure of 685 caught, tagged and released bluefin tuna from 2020, but there are still a few weeks left in the tuna season so we hope that weather conditions allow for skippers to get out and tag a few more fish before things fizzle out.

Tuna CHART

Tuna CHART (CatcH and Release Tagging) utilises authorised vessels to catch, tag and release Atlantic Bluefin Tuna for data collection purposes off the Irish coast.  The programme,  developed by Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Marine Institute in partnership with the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department for Environment, Climate and Communications, operated on a pilot basis in 2019 and 2020.

The 2021 season opened on the 1st July and closes on the 12th November 2021.

Authorised Vessels

Anglers wishing to engage in this fishery must only do so on a sea angling vessel specifically authorised to participate in the programme.  Any person engaging in this fishery on any vessel which is not appropriately authorised will be in breach of the Sea-Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction (Bluefin Tuna) Regulations.

A full list of authorised skippers can be found below:

Name

Vessel name

Current Port

Adrian Molloy
Killybegs, Co. Donegal
Brian McGilloway
Killybegs Co. Donegal
Donal McMenamin
Killybegs, Co. Donegal
Michael Callaghan
Killybegs, Teelin, Co. Donegal
Michael McGettigan
Killybegs, Co. Donegal
Patrick O’Doherty
Bundoran Pier Co. Donegal
Daryl Ewing
Rosses Point, Co. Sligo
Declan Kilgannon
Mullaghmore Co. Sligo
John Brittain
Cleggan, Co. Galway
John Fleming
Galway
Luke Aston
Carrigaholt, Co. Clare
Noel Kelleher
Kilrush, Co. Clare
Peter Power
Mullaghmore Co. Sligo
Thomas McCallion
Rosses Point, Co. Sligo
Carroll O’Donoghue
Kinsale, Co. Cork
David Edwards
Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork
Derek Schwartau
Ballycotton, Co. Cork
Séan Maxwell
Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork
Tony Santry
Marlogue, Cobh Island, Cork Harbor
Adrian Nowotynski
Union Hall Co. Cork
Kieran Collins
Baltimore, Co. Cork
Tom Collins
Reen, Union Hall, Co. Cork