Tuna Wranglers (2007) is a documentary film produced by the makers of Deadliest Catch . It follows the exploits of the southern bluefin tuna industry in South Australia as it captures wild fish and transports them to grow-out pens where the fish are fattened up for sale to the Japanese market. It features footage of fishermen diving into tuna pens to wrestle sharks in order to protect their multimillion-dollar stock. [1] The film was directed and produced by Mark Strickson for television and has also been released on DVD [2] in several regions. Critics of the film noted the omission of the southern bluefin tuna's conservation status and the incongruous casting of an American narrator given the exclusively Australian cast and story. [3] The film was produced by NHNZ for the Discovery Channel. A year after its release, the film was acknowledged by the southern bluefin tuna industry as having helped raise its public profile and boosted related tourism activity in the town of Port Lincoln. [4]
The film follows fishermen from the Stehr Group as they journey from the fishing town of Port Lincoln on Eyre Peninsula along the continental shelf to the north-west and into the Great Australian Bight. A brief stop-over in the town of Streaky Bay also features, but most of the story transpires at sea in the Southern Ocean.
The duration of the Region 4 DVD release is 90 minutes [5] and features alternative cover art to the Region 2 release. [6]
An earlier documentary film (circa 2003) entitled Tuna Cowboys was produced by NHNZ for the National Geographic channel. It was directed and produced by Mike Bhana and included topside footage from Motion Pacific. [7] The film received awards at a number of film festivals in 2003 and 2004. [8] Unlike Tuna Wranglers, it was not released on DVD.
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna up to the Atlantic bluefin tuna, which averages 2 m (6.6 ft) and is believed to live up to 50 years.
The albacore, known also as the longfin tuna, is a species of tuna of the order Scombriformes. It is found in temperate and tropical waters across the globe in the epipelagic and mesopelagic zones. There are six distinct stocks known globally in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. The albacore has an elongate, fusiform body with a conical snout, large eyes, and remarkably long pectoral fins. Its body is a deep blue dorsally and shades of silvery white ventrally. Individuals can reach up to 1.4 m in length.
Port Lincoln is a city on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located approximately 280 km as the crow flies from the State's capital city of Adelaide. In June 2019 Port Lincoln had an estimated population of 16,418, having grown at an average annual rate of 0.55% year-on-year over the preceding five years. The city is reputed to have the most millionaires per capita in Australia, as well as claiming to be Australia's "Seafood Capital".
Big-game fishing, also known as offshore sportfishing, offshore gamefishing or blue-water fishing, is a form of recreational fishing targeting large game fish, usually on a large body of water such as a sea or ocean.
The Atlantic bluefin tuna is a species of tuna in the family Scombridae. It is variously known as the northern bluefin tuna, giant bluefin tuna [for individuals exceeding 150 kg (330 lb)], and formerly as the tunny.
The yellowfin tuna is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide.
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Blue Fin is a 1978 Australian family film directed by Carl Schultz and starring Hardy Krüger, Greg Rowe and Elspeth Ballantyne. It is based on a 1969 Australian novel written by Colin Thiele.
Tony Šantić is a noted Croatian Australian thoroughbred owner and Southern bluefin tuna farmer.
The southern bluefin tuna is a tuna of the family Scombridae found in open southern Hemisphere waters of all the world's oceans mainly between 30°S and 50°S, to nearly 60°S. At up to 2.5 metres and weighing up to 260 kilograms (570 lb), it is among the larger bony fishes.
Sardinops is a monotypic genus of sardines of the family Clupeidae. The only member of the genus is Sardinops sagax. It is found in the Indo-Pacific and East Pacific oceans. Its length is up to 40 cm (16 in). It has numerous common or vernacular names, some of which more appropriately refer to subspecies, including blue pilchard, Australian pilchard, blue-bait, Californian pilchard, Peruvian Pacific sardine, South American pilchard, Chilean sardine, Japanese pilchard, Pacific sardine, and Southern African pilchard.
The Pacific bluefin tuna is a predatory species of tuna found widely in the northern Pacific Ocean, but it is migratory and also recorded as a visitor to the south Pacific.
Wicked Tuna is an American reality television series about commercial tuna fishermen based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, who fish for the lucrative Atlantic bluefin tuna in the North Atlantic Ocean. The teams of fishermen battle each other to see who can get the most profit out of catching the fish. The series has aired on National Geographic Channel since April 1, 2012.
Dr Hagen Heinz Stehr AO is a German-born multi-millionaire businessman, tuna fisherman and founder of the Stehr Group.
Brian Jeffriess is the primary spokesperson for Australia's Southern bluefin tuna fishing and aquaculture industry. He lives in Port Lincoln, South Australia and is the chief executive for the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association. He is a current member of the Australian Maritime and Fisheries Academy, the Commonwealth Fisheries Association, the Aquaculture Advisory Committee and the Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Advisory Committee. Jeffriess features regularly in the Port Lincoln Times newspaper, where he relates the industry's activities and interests to his local community. He attends the international Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna meetings and works closely with industry and government. On 26 January 2012 Jeffriess was awarded Member of the Order of Australia "for service to the fishing and aquaculture industries as a contributor to the sustainable management and harvesting of Australian fisheries and through national and international professional associations." He has also been awarded State and National Seafood Icon status.
Emma Forster is a South Australian television presenter, director of tourist attraction Swim with the Tuna and advisor for the company, Oceanic Victor. She lives in Port Lincoln where she has developed several properties. She has worked as a presenter on the seafood, fishing and boating television program Out of the Blue, is a friend and business advisor to multi-millionaire tuna rancher Tony Santic and is a former girlfriend of retired South Australian treasurer, Kevin Foley.
Seal culling in South Australia was strongly advocated for in 2015 in response to increasing interactions of Arctophocaforsteri, the indigenous long-nosed fur seal, with the state's fishing industry. In the 19th century, both fur seals and Australian sea lions were hunted for their hides. During the 20th century, seals were sometimes culled on the assumption that they were competing with fishermen. As of 2018 seal culling is illegal, but remains a topic of public debate. All pinnipeds in South Australia remain fully protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 as listed Marine Mammals. As of 2016, there were an estimated 100,000 long-nosed fur seals in South Australian waters.
Oceanic Victor is an Australian privately owned company which runs marine tourism facilities on and adjacent to Granite Island, Encounter Bay, South Australia. The company's main attraction is a floating at-sea aquarium containing Southern blue fin tuna and other marine species. The facility is located within a Habitat Protection Zone of the Encounter Marine Park and opened to the public on 2 September 2017. Since 2019 it has been open intermittently while work has been undertaken on the causeway to Granite Island and owing to COVID19 restrictions in 2020. As of 2021, the attraction is in Port Lincoln where it is undergoing maintenance. It is expected to reopen in 2022 once work on the causeway is complete.
Clean Seas Seafood Ltd is an Australian seafood production company specialising in the sea-cage aquaculture of Yellowtail kingfish. It was established by The Stehr Group in 2000, and became the first Australian company fish farming in South Australia to be listed on the ASX in 2005. The company was established by "tuna baron" Hagen Stehr, whose son Marcus remains one of the company's directors. Clean Seas has shore and sea-based fish farming facilities at Arno Bay, aquaculture leases in Fitzgerald Bay and near Port Lincoln and a processing facility at Royal Park in Adelaide. Its tuna interests were originally held by the private company Australian Tuna Fisheries Pty Ltd. Clean Seas' ambition to control and commercialise the lifecycle of the Southern bluefin tuna has not been realised.
Fish farming is a major economic contributor to South Australia's seafood sector. The most valuable species is the Southern bluefin tuna, which is caught in the wild then transferred into sea cages in southern Spencer Gulf where they are fed locally caught sardines. The second most valuable species is the Yellowtail kingfish, which is farmed near Port Lincoln and Arno Bay. A tourist venture called Oceanic Victor located in Encounter Bay allows paying customers the opportunity to swim in a sea cage with the Southern bluefin tuna and handfeed the fish. Prominent companies in the fish farming sector in South Australia include Clean Seas and Tony's Tuna International.