NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — It’s the big one that got taken away.
Local fishing boat owner Carlos Rafael was elated when one of his trawlers snared an 881-pound bluefin tuna earlier this month.
But the joy was short-lived. Federal fishery enforcement agents seized the fish when the crew returned to port Nov. 12.
Rafael had tuna permits but was told catching tuna with a net is illegal. Instead, it’s got to be caught by handgear, such as rod and reel, harpoon or handline.
“We didn’t try to hide anything,” Rafael told The Standard-Times newspaper of New Bedford, a famous whaling era port 50 miles south of Boston. “We did everything by the book. Nobody ever told me we couldn’t catch it with a