Tuna Team Getting it Done

Hello tuna tagging fans. Sorry for the delay in getting the latest posts up, but we've been out on the water so much lately that I haven't had time to bring you updates from the field. On Wednesday the tuna taggers were joined by Duke postdoc Dr. Ari Friedlaender and Duke graduate student Elliott Hazen for a wonderful day on the water chasing our favorite sea dweller, the mighty bluefin tuna. The fishing was slow throughout the morning but by the early afternoon, the gannets were diving up a storm close inshore and we were marking a lot of bait underneath the boat. We trolled around the bait for about an hour before we finally hooked up a nice bluefin. Ari fought the fish hard and we had him up to the boat in less than 20 minutes. A quick surgery and the fish was on his way out the back of the boat to resume his day of feeding on the abundant bait fish that were congregating in the area. The photo above shows Ari and Captain Dale Britt working hard as I stitch up the fish and Dave keeps the deck hose in it's mouth to allow it to breathe. Elliott was behind the camera on the bridge. Great job everyone and thanks for all the help.