Two Atlantic bluefin tuna auctioned at IJmuiden and Urk fish markets in the Netherlands, fetching over €4,200 combined

The fish markets in IJmuiden and Urk in the Netherlands each sold one giant tuna via the auction clock on 9 November 2026. The two Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) were caught by the fishing vessels ARM 22 and UK 68 fishing with purse seines in the southern North Sea, and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) approved both landings.

The crew of the ARM 22 found the tuna in a cod-end containing whiting and squid; skipper Henry Caljouw and Cornelis Marijs were on board, and the fish weighed 180 kilograms. The one on the UK 68 was slightly smaller at 127 kilograms; skipper Jelle Koffeman said the fish had become stuck in the wing section of the net and thrashed its tail so violently that it even tore a hole in the net.

Giant tuna that are caught have very little chance of survival, and biologists believe mortality can reach 100%. Fishermen previously had to throw them back into the sea, but current practice now varies across Europe. The Netherlands now also allows fishermen to land tuna, but strict conditions apply.

The catch must be recorded immediately in the electronic logbook (ERS), stating the estimated weight and the Latin species name Thunnus thynnus, and fishermen must also check whether the bycatch exceeds the permitted limit: the weight of a single fish may not exceed 20% of the week's total catch weight. Both ARM 22 and UK 68 were far below this proportion. The catch must then also be declared in an electronic catch document (eBCD), which tracks fish products from capture to final destination and is used to prevent illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; the vessel name, flag, fishing area and tuna weight must be entered.

Normally, vessels landing tuna must hold a formal ICCAT registration number, but Dutch vessels do not have one. The rule applied by the NVWA is that in the case of unforeseen incidental bycatch, the ICCAT vessel number may be non-mandatory under specific conditions, but a separate eBCD registration is required. The NVWA granted landing permission for both catches because they complied with EU-ICCAT rules. The Netherlands itself has no tuna fishing rights; these bycatch quantities are deducted from a very small EU common bycatch quota shared by all member states without their own quota, totalling about 100 tonnes.

After approval, the catch must also be reported in advance to the port authorities and the NVWA through the usual fisheries procedures, and must meet the NVWA's traceability requirements.

The two tuna were no longer of sushi-grade quality, but were rated as good quality by inspectors and were still very suitable for tuna steaks. At the IJmuiden fish market, Plugge's Puur of Scheveningen bought the fish at €16.11 per kilogram, for a total of €2,899.80. The 127-kilogram tuna in Urk was bought by Neerlandia-Urk at €10.51 per kilogram, for a total of €1,334.77, with skipper Jelle Koffeman saying he was very satisfied.

The current bycatch rules do not help small fishermen who occasionally hook a tuna on a longline, because its weight often exceeds 20% of the total catch and, under the rules, it must still be thrown back into the sea. NetVISwerk chairman Albert Jan Maat has written to LVVN State Secretary Silvio Erkens requesting that the bycatch limit be raised to 50%. Besides inland fishermen, NetVISwerk also includes a number of Dutch and Belgian handline fishermen who want the Netherlands to adopt the policies of Spain, France and the United Kingdom. According to Maat, policies in these countries have been adjusted to allow thousands of large and small fishing vessels to take tuna as bycatch. To support this request, CDA's Willemien Koning-Hoeve and colleagues submitted a question to the European Parliament this summer; MEPs want to know how the European Commission assesses the differences in policy.

The Atlantic bluefin tuna is not a newcomer to the North Sea; in the past it swam in large numbers into the North Sea, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat to feed on herring and mackerel. Norwegians and Germans were once very active in catching tuna, and between 1951 and 1962 annual North Sea tuna landings ranged from 2,600 to 10,600 tonnes. From 1963, commercial tuna fishing in the area came to a complete end, attributed to severe overfishing of tuna in northern waters and Mediterranean spawning grounds, as well as a sharp decline in North Sea herring stocks. Because of the low biomass, ICCAT signed an eastern tuna stock recovery plan in 2007, setting quotas and closed seasons. The plan succeeded, and the total allowable catch (TAC) for Atlantic bluefin tuna was raised again for the 2026-2028 period: by 13% for the western stock and by 19.3% for the eastern stock, under the current management procedure.

In recent years, researchers from the European Tracking Network have fitted transmitters to a number of tuna to track their movements and migration patterns. Tags and transmitters show that tuna have been returning regularly to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in recent years. Water temperature does not limit tuna, because they have a unique system that allows their muscles, brain and digestive system to be warmer than the surrounding water. Squid in the tuna diet appears to play a greater role in the return of giant tuna to these waters.