A comeback story
From nearly gone to back on our doorstep in incredible numbers
By the 1990s, decades of worldwide overfishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna and their food sources had pushed the species down to a fraction of its former numbers. Then the world's tuna nations did something rare: they cut quotas hard, put a rebuilding plan in place, and stuck to it for nearly two decades.
It worked. Scientific assessments now show the eastern Atlantic stock is no longer overfished and has been growing more than steadily. In 2021 the IUCN moved Atlantic bluefin off its endangered list to Least Concern. One visible sign of that recovery: bluefin schooling around the Channel Islands again every summer and autumn, something a generation of Jersey fishermen never saw.
Eating Jersey bluefin isn't a guilty pleasure. It's the taste of a conservation plan that actually worked, and the strict rules that made it work are still in force on every fish we land.
01
One fish at a time
No nets, no longlines. Jersey's bluefin fishery is rod and line, under a strict daily and seasonal quota. Each fish is fought, landed and handled individually, with no bycatch and nothing wasted.
02
A hard cap, set by science
Only a licensed handful of local boats may land bluefin, each against a strict tonnage limit inside Jersey's small share of the UK's international quota. When the quota is caught, the fishery stops. No exceptions.
03
Every fish is scientifically recorded
Each landed bluefin is certified, weighed and reported, and travels with an ICCAT catch document from the boat to the counter. Our landings also feed data back to the scientists monitoring the stock, and we even keep samples of each fish's stomach so researchers can study what the tuna are feeding on in our waters. In total, each fish has four documents that must be filled out to maintain the sustainable fishery.
Just passing through
A travelling species
This is not a stock that lives in Jersey. The tuna here are a travelling species that has bounced back worldwide, passing us on their journey from the Mediterranean up to Norway and back. This year's season runs from August to December only.
From hook to counter
How we look after every fish
Caught with care. Rod and line only, brought to the boat quickly and handled by a crew that knows a fish deserves extremely cautious handling. Anything outside the rules is never landed, whether undersized, out of season or over quota.
Chilled from the first minute. A bluefin's quality is won or lost on deck. One thing that sets us apart is the ikejime method, the most humane way to dispatch the fish and the best for quality. Each fish is bled and buried in ice straight away, then brought in the same day. That's what keeps the meat deep red and clean-tasting.
Certified and traceable. Every fish is certified at the boat, weighed and reported to Marine Resources, and carries its ICCAT catch documentation. When you buy Jersey bluefin from our counter, its paper trail runs all the way back to the hook.
Nothing wasted. Our ethos is nothing wasted, and that applies to our bluefin tuna too. Every part of the fish is used, from its bone marrow to its loin to its belly and all the offcuts. Even the bones are made into stocks, and the stomach is kept as a sample so researchers can study what the tuna are feeding on in our waters.
Who keeps it honest
ICCAT: the rules behind the fish
Bluefin tuna cross oceans, so no single country can protect them alone. That job belongs to ICCAT, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, a body of over fifty fishing nations founded in 1969 that sets the science-based catch limits for every bluefin landed anywhere in the Atlantic.
ICCAT runs the rebuilding plan that brought bluefin back: hard quotas for every country, minimum landing sizes, closed seasons, and a catch-documentation scheme that tracks each individual fish from the boat that caught it to the plate it ends up on. The UK joined ICCAT in its own right in 2021, and Jersey's fishery operates inside the UK's allocation. It opened in Jersey for the first time in 2026.
Because the stock has kept growing, ICCAT has been able to raise quotas cautiously, proof that a managed fishery and a recovering species can go hand in hand. Jersey's boats fish as part of a UK commercial-scientific programme, alongside Wales and Scotland, so every season also adds to what's known about these fish.
ICCAT founded, with 50+ nations now managing Atlantic tuna together
IUCN reclassifies Atlantic bluefin from Endangered to Least Concern
Jersey's 2026 bluefin quota, a deliberately small share of the UK's ICCAT allocation
What each boat in Jersey's trial scheme may land in a season
Where to find yours
Bluefin lands from late summer through to December, and only while the quota lasts. Ask at the counter, check the board for what's in stock, or catch it on the specials at Driftwood.