Well-known Bluefin Tuna skipper Adrian Molloy of Tuna.ie, fishing out of Killybegs, tagged and released the first Bluefin of the 2025 season on 24th July. As an authorised skipper under the Tuna Chart Data Collection Programme, Adrian and his angling clients were fishing in the middle of Donegal Bay and hooked the 195 cm fish. The fish was brought alongside Adrianβs boat and was tagged in the water before being released, following a short recovery period. Further south, in the Valentia area, authorised skipper Tony Santry hooked and played a Bluefin yesterday for about 5 minutes before the fish was lost.
Tuna CHART (CatcH And Release Tagging) is a bluefin tuna scientific catch and release fishery. In 2025, a maximum 22 authorised sea angling charter skippers have been authorised to catch, tag and release Atlantic bluefin tuna in Irish waters under the programme.
In 2024, 294 Atlantic bluefin tuna were caught, tagged and released as part of Tuna CHART. Authorised skippers undertook 234 bluefin tuna angling trips. In the most successful week last year, 3 bluefin were caught and tagged per trip.
Go Fishing…
You can find a list of authorised Tuna boats here:
