1000+lb Bluefin tuna
I’ve been biting my tongue for the past few weeks waiting for a reply from Philippe Virgili for a full explanation of his “An over 1000lb Tuna capture” that he has put on every website that has the word spearfishing in it the world round.
To catch you up on this if you haven’t heard, a few weeks/months ago P.V. speared a gigantic Bluefin tuna off the coast of Nova Scotia “150-170 miles offshore”. The fish immediately took the spearfishing world by storm and the rumors and accusations have been flowing ever since regarding the legality, accountability, and intentions behind the endeavor.
First off, yes I am jealous, and will give credit where it is due. To put yourself in the right place at the right time to take any fish is an accomplishment. I have no problems with spearing Bluefin Tunas I personally would love the opportunity to take one at some point in my life and we would all delight in seeing a fish of this size swim in front of us.
To take a fish of this size there is a lot of planning and research that needs to go into it and Philippe has obviously put the time and effort into accomplishing this. He holds a handful of impressive world records and has taken some good video around the world in his travels. He has the ability and the opportunity to put himself in the path of many good fish and his records reflect this.
photo courtesy of Philippe Virgilli
#1 Was fish was taken Illegally?
Was it legal? From all the information that was given in the various reports on the internet. NO. In the United States, Nova Scotia and Canada it is illegal to take Bluefin tunas by speargun. The permits that are issued are issued to commercial fisherman and fish are only to be taken by line or harpoon and there are very very tight restrictions on what size and when you can take said fish. https://hmspermits.noaa.gov/PermitList.asp
From Philippe’s report:
The bf tuna capture took place at about 170 miles off the coast, South of a spot named Grand Bank (and unfortunaly inside the Z.E.E. where federal commercial fishing reg applie)
I thought at the time that taking a tuna in this “grey zone” was not illegal, so I did it, but I was wrong.
At the time the thread about “an about 1200lb tuna” was active, I have been getting pertinent feedback from many colleagues (and sometimes value judgments from other… ).
So I have been seeking advices from a friend who is honorary judge at the appeal court (Canada): i described him the context of hte hunt.
His first conclusions were that the tuna capture I did was not illegal in a strict sense law term. Not any unlawfull action was made mainly because
blue water hunting or underwater spearing a game fish would have nothing to do with rod fishing from a boat in the open sea in Can waters…
While analyzing the spirit of the canadian law and all technicalities… and despite a first positive impression, the appeal judge found in the end in Canadian law precedent wich shut the door to taking a bluefintuna while freediving (however the reg applies to pro fishing only…).
That’s it!
Equipment : You don’t hunt Elephants with your Deer Rifle
He has been preparing to hunt this fish for years and has been designing and using gear specifically suited for the purpose of landing a 1000lb fish and dedicated so much time to it… Then why did he use the wrong gear, twice. (another estimated 1000+lb tuna was speared and lost off “Gibraltar” last year)
From Philippe’s report:
“…in particular, the opportunity to share some technical problems about this special capture… and to unfortunaly note that the Archimèdes principle works 100%!
At the time the fish was dead, I could only prevent it from sinking to the depth with the bodyboard…because it’s impossible without help to lift an over 1,000lb fish to the surface.
Gear used for the catch:
-An home-made 69″ teakwood tuna gun (St. Alexander style) equipped with
a (3/8) 72” long spear Riffe and a home-made slip tip (harpoon dart style)
-The spear is connected to the gun with a 3 mm stainless steel plastic-coated cable. Swivels, snaps, sleeves… are about 600lb resistant.
-Five 20 mm elastic bands.
-The float line is a 75′ Riffe bungie (550lb nylon line core) and the float system is T Botha board (I improved in some details) + an inflatable Riffe buoy connected to the board by a North Water Wedge SpectrX Throw Bag (used in Kayaking).
A Riffe bungie is a heavy and designed for fish tunas from 50-500lbs. The jump from 500-1000lbs is extreme and common sense would dictate that you need to change your gear to suit the size fish you are pursuing. You don’t hunt Elephants with your Deer Rifle. Beef up your gear for the task at hand.
The Story unravels upon investigation…
The original story came out with hoorays and high fives and across the world Spearos in the know held their tongues knowing the real story had yet to be revealed… To his credit, Philippe has told more and more scraps and only he and the boat crew know the truth so I do not want to blaspheme a man who has never brought me harm or injustice. He has always been open with me and we have discussed our disagreements and even posted them for the world to see and share. http://spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=64622&highlight=costa+rica+bluewater (Another discussion about the concerns of holding a spearfishing tournament, organized by Philippe in Costa Rica that included targeting Billfish.)
After spearing the fish, it was impossible to land because the bungie was drawn so tightly that the diameter was such that it could not be gripped and retained as it was hauled up therefore losing as many inches as you gain. Luckily the fish died at depth and did not result in another complete loss with a 1000lb fish swimming away with a spear in its side. With no other choice, a winch was used to bring him to the surface and into the boat.
Pictures taken the boat headed for shore and the lack of an official weight started to raise some questions. Upon further investigation, Philippe explained that he was not interested in being a “professional” spearfisherman and that the fish was not weighed.
Horse Mackerel
The disappearing tuna…
An experienced fisherman in search of records (he was on a hunt for a world record Swordfish), the absence of an exact weight aroused more suspicions and incredulous responses from the masses. After some prying the story unraveled a bit more and then fatefully crashed to its death when Philippe shared on Spearboard.com that after the Captain of the boat dropped him off on shore, he left the fish with the captain and headed back to work.
At this point our hearts and fists clenched and no doubt Philippe himself has never felt such loss in the sport as he explained that this magnificent fish, while underway after leaving him on the shore, “slipped” overboard to be lost back into the sea forever.
I’ll give you a minute to digest this…
The largest fish ever Spearfished, for all information available, suspected to have been speared illegally, potentially worth tens of thousands of dollars in the fish market, allowed to “slip” over the side of the boat.
Are you kidding me?
You would have quit your job, hired a Deep sea Submersible to scour the ocean floor, prayed the Captain would never show his face in town again because you don’t trust yourself to not go Jackie Chan on him, and cried yourself to sleep to this day knowing that you let history “slip” into the sea breaking not only your heart but that of thousands of us around the world on so many levels for as many reasons.
The discussion on this will continue… So much has been said and the majority of the reliable places it has been posted have been deleted due to fear of more bad press for our sport.
Where do we go from here?
There have been a lot of analogies made but it is summed up easily by the following excerpt taken from Spearboard.com:
“Looking at it in a different way. Suppose your target fish was yellowtail and you were in California. Do you think you could legally spear a yellowtail in international waters 22km from land, bring it back to the port of San Diego and then sell it for cash on the international market as a recreational fisherman? That is basically what he was trying to do except in another country with another fish.” Daniel, Orange County
After thought: Spearfishing and Spearfisherman are such a small majority of the fisherman in the world and therefor we have little sway when it comes to regulations. When it comes up in Fisheries discussions Spearfishing is shut down so often because there is no one to stand up for our rights. FRA (Fishing Rights Alliance) has been instrumental in preserving our rights as underwater hunters and challenging poor research and unfair laws restricting our rights to do what we love. Unfortunately we are already way behind and in the United States species such as Billfish, Bluefin Tuna, Striped Bass, Tripletail, Red Snapper, Permit, African Pompano and many others are constantly under fire or removed from our species list forever because a stronger force, (Commercial, charter, flyfisherman, etc) has pushed us aside using anything in their power to belittle and demonize our sport. One shark is speared and we are shark killers. Charter Fisherman decide that a fish is too beautiful to kill anymore (despite high mortality rates from catch and release anyways) and even though we are the most selective and conservation minded of any discipline of fishing, we are chastised for doing what we love.
In Australia far too many Green Zones have been put in place affecting Spearfishman for same reasons and unfound Science. That the public still hates us because Spearos back in the day, including Rodney Fox the most famous Shark Conservationist and long time Spearfisherman, speared Sharks in the early phases of the sport.
There has been a lot of talk about this here are some links. FYI- Virgilli on all of the Forums is Philippe Virgili. Due to bad publicity fears for our sport, the discussion and whole story has been removed from many forums.
http://spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=111624
What have you heard?
Are we fools for being angry at him for losing the fish?
23 Responses to “1000lb Tuna Speared”
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I suspect that the fish was not lost over the side but taken to port and sold as a harpooned fish.This is nothing more than my suspicion,but it makes more sense than a commercial fishing captain losing a very valuable fish over the side after getting a tail rope on it.
I have a feeling that the story may be more along the lines of:
He speared the fish illegally, he knew this and so he knew that keeping the fish can cause him grief and spearing it illegally also means he cant claim a record. So what does he do, he sells it under the captains licence which would make him say 50% of the sale. What do you reckon that fish sold for? A bare minimun of $15000? So P.V. gathered he may aswell make a cool $7500 instead of keeping an illegal fish.
My opinion.
Landing a fish that size is an awesome task and will always draw admiration and envy from all of us spearos. However, all of that is negated by the simple fact that the fish was taken illegally and more tragically “lost overboard”. WE need to be sensitive and question the imperatives for taking such a huge and beautiful fish. There is so much biased and unfounded opinion worldwide against spearfishermen that each one of us has to be constantly aware of how our behavior contributes to that perception. I cannot begin to comprehend how anyone could let such a fish go to waste…
That is just sad. I find it nearly impossible to fathom that anyone could have let the fish “slip” over the side of the vessel. That is just a load of BS.
The research you disclosed here supports what I suspected all along.
The only mag to run this pic was in AU, and PV has a relationship with them. Personally, if you can;t land the fish while in the water, such as is required by IUSA and IBSRC rules, then don;t shoot it. I did not know about the supposed loss of fish, nor about his being left off to return to work. Sounds sketchy to me.
I believe that getting in front of these fish takes commitment and money. So what is he left with? No fish, no trophy, no WR, no claim to fame, only stories of fish that were lost, both before and after capture. Kind of a shame in my opnion.
Darren Shields spent hours filming these giants in NZ, and when he spoke of it he said he could not see himself shooting one of them. THAT shows more respect for the resource, and souls of these giants of the sea.
I am an Aussie and it pains me to say that an Australian Magazine ran this as its front cover last issue. Which is downright heart breaking if all this information is true. Not only was it a picture of this fish but the cover also had the deck of the boat awash with blood an image that is distastful to so many people over here. Thanks Cam for firstly reaserching then speaking up about this issue.
Here in Australia, as i am sure is the case the world over spearfisher’s already have an unfounded bad name among the extreme and vocal green groups. This kind of thing only enhances what they already believe of us and does so much damage to our way of life here.
We have a responsability to do all we can to paint a positve light on this great way of life we all enjoy!! Which is an easy thing to do with the fact that spearfishing is the most ecologically sustainable for of fishing! To top it off it is also a great way to gain full enjoyment of our marine enviroment, whilst providing food for your family and friends at the same time!
Let me just finish by saying none of us are perfect and have never made a mistake, but the great thing in life is learning from them… lets hope we have all learnt a valuable lesson here!
I’ll add that none of us are perfect, we’ve all made conscious decisions in our lives that we’ll regret, large or small. Having said that, this story saddens me for many reasons, but primarily the big picture issue is that this is ‘chest beating’ at it’s most flagrant. I wouldn’t feel that way if he had at least eaten some of the fish, or had weighed the fish for a record, or if he killed it in self-defence, or if it was an exotic-invasive species affecting the local biostructure, or if… anyway- the point is that you don’t shoot a fish (regardless of size/species) just to say you did and get a picture then throw it away. Sure the crabs and eels will enjoy it, blah blah blah… but it’s the mindset that is disturbing. The planning, resources and execution- all for a story (which seems to now be meandering).
Cam is right, the less publicity this gets the better for all of us and the sport. Actions like this can’t be rewarded, and I can say this because I have context. The attention gained from the Tiger shark incident 2 years ago about ruined diving altogether for me. Sure, it was self defense, and yes we ate a bite and shared some of her parts for educational programs… but the insinuations made about my character had me sick for months after.
Killing for fun is counter-evolutionary, there is no instinctual basis. Animals don’t do it, they don’t have enough free time to think about doing it. Like that video of Orcas training their young to topple a seal off an ice patty, in the end they let it live so it would be there when they were actually hungry. Humans from the dawn of civilization have veered off track from the course of nature, and this discussion reminds me of how out of balance we’ve become. Everything should have a reason, but I can find one for this…
I too am troubled with the dubious explanation of how the fish disappeared. The extent someone will go.,(super planning, specialized gear that took years to develope)that they will try to do the impossible. What a shame it could not have been accomplished “legally”? My father Charles Frost has been a avid spearfisherman going back to the middle 1950′s, member of the Kelp Kings Diving Club. Trophy fish are a very prestigious accomplishment. Possibly the terrific thrill of the chase for this pescadore, is at the heart of spearfishing? A man with a plan, executes, and has a photo to remind him of this feat! Hmmm..
~~ Personally, if you can;t land the fish while in the water, such as is required by IUSA and IBSRC rules,
then don;t shoot it.
I believe that getting in front of these fish takes commitment and money. So what is he left with? No fish, no trophy, no WR, no claim to fame, only stories of fish that were lost, both before and after capture. Kind of a shame in my opinion.
Darren Shields spent hours filming these giants in NZ, and when he spoke of it he said he could not see himself shooting one of them. THAT shows more respect for the resource, and souls of these giants of the sea. ~~
ALL is said !! with you on that Dennis !
I do not believe that the fish was lost its value its frankly to high to be lost and on top of that it had a rope on its tail thera are onley two posible answers they had to drope the fish,i dont believe they did this,the second one they sold the fish and keeped the money and the story as a secret
sucha beautiful fish can not be lost so easly and certanly not like that
“First off, I’m jealous” covers the tone of the article, BUT…
The shady background of this story stinks as much as the head on that boat and the fact that all the guy got, supposedly was a photo that’ll always be questioned. I think that it might have been better to just not give the guy(s) any credit by giving the story any space on the Web.
I’ll be honest too and say that the size of that thing is making want to build a 72.
So this should be pretty easy to solve. WAS a 1000 lbs blue fin sold at the time? If the “captain” doesn’t have a record of it I’m pretty sure someone does, like the wholesaler he sold it to.
But it smells pretty fishy to me.
I would love to see a fish like that,shoot one?……..I will not judge this because if it were leagle I might, I love raw tuna! But to put a twist on it, I was watching the outdoor channel after ‘Speargun Hunter’[go Sheri] and see The Dallas Hunting Club.Now heres a BUNCH OF RICH FAT SLOBS KILLING elephant ,lions ,hippos, you name it ,with hi power rifles with scopes ,[my six year old could do that], in blinds ,with bait to attract the poor animals.And high fives with pictures.Do they eat the lion or elephant ?I eat what I spear, and can’t imagine killing a hippo!Wow great shot you hit a barn.So don’t be to hard on Hemingway…I mean Phil….
Okay, I’ll say something now.
First, always fish legally. Regulations are there for a reason and if you catch something illegally (regardless of how miniscule the infraction) you will catch all the greif that the enviros can dish out, and that is a lot of grief.
Second, way to go Philippe!!! Forget about the specualting critics. One Tuna, shot by one guy, in one hundred years, isn’t going to exhaust “the resource”. Idiots.
Another story of the one who got away.
If PV killed this last of the monster North Atlantic Blue Fin just to notch his belt, and couldn’t cap his ego to tell us all about it, he deserves whatever fine he gets, but I can’t fault the way he did it. How many Blue Fin did British Petroleum kill in the Gulf last year? Why don’t they pay for their mistakes?
i would love to see one of them on a rod
I’m sorry but if I saw one of these fish swim in front of me, I sure i would shot it not matter if it was legal or not. Yea I know its bad karma but you will probably only have this shot once in a live time. And why is it illegal to take bluefin tuna by speargun in the United States anyways?
In the latest issue of Hawaii Skin Diver, a picture of this fish appears in an OMER/SPORASUB advertisement. Has there been any judicial ruling on this incident? If there hasn’t been one, those companies are kinda rolling the dice in essentially bragging about how they helped bring down this monster. How about a follow-up article, Cam?