Full with tuna CHRISTOPHER COOTE 08 Dec, 2009 12:30 AM IT took just over 24 hours for the first 150 tonnes of southern bluefin tuna to be caught over the weekend in what has been described as some of the best fishing for 40 years.
Stehr Group chairman Hagen Stehr said this was the earliest the company had caught its first cage of fish for the season, which is in direct contrast to what governments and the international science community have said about the Australian tuna fishery.
"It was like the old days out there - we could pick and choose which fish we wanted they were so abundant," he said.
Even though it was only looking for about 150 tonnes of fish, the company could have filled its entire quota for the year if it had more tow cages.
"There were enough fish there to fill the entire fleet's quota for the year.
"If it had have taken until Christmas Day (to catch the fish) I would have still said that was an excellent result."
Coupled with last season's excellent early catches, Mr Stehr said the fishing is as good now as it has been since he started in the industry in the 1960s and he still could not believe the decision made to cut the quota.
"The people who have made the decision to cut it back have no idea about the industry.
"The fishing so far this year and last year flies in the face of the ideas and beliefs that are floating around in Canberra and other parts of the world."
In October Australia's southern bluefin tuna quota catch per year was reduced from 5265 tonnes to 4015 tonnes over 2010 and 2011.
The global catch quota was also reduced by 20 per cent from 11,810 tonnes to 9449 tonnes along with 20 per cent reductions to other countries.
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