The skippers, John Walsh of the trawler Charisma and Shaun Edwards, who commands the vessel Nova Spero, were regularly landing good catches of albacore tuna, but were struggling to sell it to the market with the result that this key fish was selling for the paltry price of just £1 per kilo on some days.

Given that tuna is the fifth most popular fish in the UK at the moment, the price was not just totally uneconomic, but simply ridiculous in a world of rising fish prices overall.

To support the skippers, M&J has struck a deal with agree a guaranteed price throughout the season, which runs from June until the end of September. It will also ensure a sustainable product.

The boats go out for around 10 to 14 days at a time with lures trailing behind the vessels. M&J says this method targets 3-5 year old fish which are of higher quality and richer in Omega-3 oils. The hooked tuna are landed, stunned and hung to maintain quality.

Because the season is relatively short, some loins are frozen to ensure continuity of supply for much of the year. Both skippers have praised the agreement. Based at Newquay, John Walsh is regular catcher of shellfish, turbot and monk fish. Built at Eyemouth in 1998, the Charisma is one of the port's top vessels.

The Nova Spero, owned by Shaun Edwards of Newlyn , is older - being built at Arbroath in 1978. He says he is looking forward to developing long term sustainable fishery for future generations.

M&J Seafood, which has hailed the agreement as a British fishing success story, announced just a few weeks ago that it will no longer be supplying the threatened bluefin tuna to the foodservice market.

The decision followed its move to ban all shark products from its portfolio. Sometimes referred to as the 'panda' of the tuna world, bluefin has become a threatened species worldwide.

Earlier this year the Glitnir Bank's specialist seafood department warned that the global catch of tuna has stagnated and is unlikely to increase significantly over the next few years,

More than four million tonnes of tuna are caught annually and while its popularity is on the rise, this increased demand will not be met by aquaculture alone despite intensive new farming initiatives.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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