Tuna catch 'crazy' good

The re-opening of P.E.I.'s tuna fishery Monday saw more than 100 fish landed, says one dockside monitoring company.

'I've been doing dockside monitoring for 15 years or more and I've never seen that before.' Barb Gaudet, Island Weigh

Tuna fishermen opened the season briefly in August, but closed it voluntarily to allow the fish to fatten up in the hopes of getting better prices.

Barb Gaudet, the owner of the dockside monitoring company Island Weigh, said she has never seen a catch like the one on Monday.

"Yesterday was crazy. We did 116 fish total. And I've been doing dockside monitoring for 15 years or more and I've never seen that before," Gaudet said Tuesday.

"The biggest day that I've had since we've been doing monitoring, I think, we had 45 fish and that was a big day."

Gaudet said more than half of the remaining quota has already been caught. She expects the remainder will come in the next day or two.

Early reports show prices ranging from $3.30 to $24.20 a kilogram, with most fishermen averaging between $11 and $13.20 a kilogram.

With fish weighing in at hundreds of kilograms, one fish can make the whole season worthwhile for some fishermen.