Massive Bluefin Tuna Caught Commercially Off San Diego Coast Would Approach Species Record Catch

As the Fox San Diego video above states, a giant bluefin tuna caught off the San Diego coast would have been a sportfishing record at roughly 500 pounds, but it was caught by a commercial boat despite a rod and reel being used to land the monster. Here are more details from the TV station’s report:

The tuna weighed 446 pounds, gilled and gutted. It’s estimated to be around 500 pounds whole.

“It’s a big deal for the City of San Diego and for sportfishing. There’s a saying, ‘The world needs more tackle boxes and less Xboxes.’ We need to teach kids how to fish,” said Gomes. He owns Tunaville Market and Grocery, which buys Medak’s catches. …

“Because it’s a commercial caught fish and the only records are sport-caught, so if he would have been out sportfishing, that would have been the new state record here in California, and it was a beautiful fish,” Gomes said. “This fish creates jobs in your city — that stuff flown in on an airplane doesn’t do us any good.”