A 600- to 700-pound bluefin tuna created a scene at the Menemsha wharf Thursday as it was hoisted off the Katherine M, snapping a steel boom in the process. A crowd of people, including some other fishermen, watched as the impressive catch was offloaded from the tuna boat out of Manchester.
Menemsha Fish House staffers, along with the seafood wholesaler’s owner, Alec Gale, helped Captain Everett Sawyer hoist the fish from a nest of ice in the Katherine M’s fish box. Just as the fish was positioned over a pallet on the wharf, it snapped the stainless steel boom holding it.
The boom crashed onto the gunwale, but missed those around it. The fish meat was undamaged by the drop.
But there were injuries aboard the vessel. First mate Genice Sawyer said her ankle was injured when the tuna was landed. Her husband revealed a huge welt on his upper arm that he got during the one-hour, 10-minute battle. Capt. Sawyer said he and his wife caught the tuna 102 miles out at Vetches Canyon with a green stick, a type of fiberglass pole positioned high on the boat. The stick had a six-squid rig, according to Capt. Sawyer, and two big bluefin struck and hooked — though one of them eventually snapped 800-pound monofilament to escape.
The Katherine M also offloaded five yellowfin tuna, each considerably smaller than the bluefin. The tuna all went up on the Menemsha bulkhead to be packed and further iced down at the Menemsha Fish House.