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| Pending World Record Dog Tooth Tuna 110kg - Tanzania - Cameron Kirkconnell |
The fish was so big that despite having the chance for a head shot on him I changed my aim and shot him in the same place as the last really big one I’d landed knowing that the shot would hold and take out his propulsion. The fish was much much much bigger than I thought though. When I was on my way back to the surface I looked at Brad Thornbrough and spread my arms as wide as I could underwater to show him it was massive then hit the surface and he asked, ‘How big was it? World Record?’
At the time I said not that big but definitely over 150 lbs. When it came to the surface though we started flipping out and knew it was over the 200 lb mark.
On the beach the scale dropped to a staggering 243lbs shattering the old record (201lbs)
check out Cameron's blog for more.... Spearblog.Com
Who would have thought that a Dog Tooth Tuna over 100kg would ever be landed.... Bloody Amazing!
Coatesman
9 comments:
Wow rad fish ... just wondering if they will still accept the record even tho its illegal to spear in Tanzania?
Really nice fish!! congratulations!
So the fish was taken in Tanzania? And it is illegal to spearfish there??? Hmmm, some thing is wrong here.
I am not sure on this. I know the main lands law says that spearfishing is not allowed. But I know the islands have a different governance. There are guys running spearfishing charter business's out there, and as far as I know the fisheries out there are aware of this. So there must be some type of concession that they have to dive there.
Comments on the legality of spearfishing in Tanzania; as the Tanzania registered and licensed charter operator during which the new (pending) WR was speared I have the following to clarify;
1. Fisheries on Mainland Tanzania and the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba are separate entities. Fisheries is not a Union (Zanzibar and Tanganyika) matter.
2. Our company submitted project proposals for 'SPORT/RECREATIONAL SPEARFISHING' to both mainland and isles responsible Ministries for fisheries, and has been approved by TAFIRI, the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute' who advises the responsible Ministry on the mainland, and now fisheries.
3. All our clients - including, in this case, Cameron Kirkconnell - whether spearfishing on the mainland or isles, have been issued with 'SPORT SPEARFISHING' permits requested specially by us and issued by the relevant ministry that is responsible for issuing such permits.
I conclude by summarizing that this impressive fish, along with its bigger but slightly lighter (1 kg) runner up, was by our knowledge speared during a charter that was legally run according to the law and to the benefit of Tanzania's economy. I add that this does not mean that spearfishing is legal for everyone in Tanzania, but rather that through our proposal we have obtained special permits to spearfish.
Whether this new WR size fish will be ratified or not by the relevant authority will be a decision only they can make once all the paperwork is submitted for the claim.
I have heard that during a trip with clients, the boat had to detour in order to avoid authorities and the spearfishing guns were hidden.
Why, If properly licensed or with a special permit ?
One has to question information provided by a person hiding behind an anonymous status. Would it be because they are not prepared to stand on a public domain behind what they say?
We suspect the anonymous is a sport fishing operator operating from the Dar es Salaam Yacht Club who takes his/her business so seriously that they have to hide the fact that they are a commercial operator so as to avoid loosing privileges of using that club.
Either way, the remark above requires a response from us and here it is;
The sad truth about Tanzania is that some officials can easily be paid off to go harass anyone, even if they are clean in front of the law. It is also true that the law in Tanzania indirectly states that you are guilty until proven innocent. Anyone can walk into a police station today, make a statement against another person, and that person will be picked up by police and held in custody until proven innocent or making bail.
Given the above, which professional charter operator would choose to willingly take clients into a confrontation with armed Tanzanian officials even though they (the clients) had valid individual permits? In our opinion, the only way to confront the situation was to remove the clients from it and then tackle it head on without getting clients involved. That is exactly what we did. The next day we went head on to the head of the Fisheries Patrol Officer and were told that there was no problem.
The matter is still being followed up on and investigated.
Eric, clients might believe at your stories, but it looks like the Tanzanian Government doesn't :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1K7aORFrFM
Rob
ROB THE KNOB?
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