29 August 2021

The King tags a tuna in the Skagerrak

On Sunday 29 August, The King took part in a research project to tag bluefin tuna in the Skagerrak.

The King heads out into the Skagerrak to tag a bluefin tuna.

The King heads out into the Skagerrak to tag a bluefin tuna. Photo: The Royal Court of Sweden

Since 2017, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) has been researching the large tuna which have started to visit Swedish waters again after an absence of almost 60 years.

The King helped to tag a 224 cm tuna with a satellite transmitter, together with SLU researchers Gustav Hellström, Tomas Brodin and Andreas Sundelöf, SLU's Vice-Chancellor Maria Wedel and Daniel Melin from the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

The transmitter will allow researchers to track the tuna's travels across the Atlantic, providing better knowledge about this new fish stock. The researchers always name tagged tuna, and this tuna was named Silvia at The King's suggestion.

Silvia is tagged with a satellite transmitter.

Silvia is tagged with a satellite transmitter. Photo: The Royal Court of Sweden

The long journeys of tuna

Researchers have now attached transmitters to 26 bluefin tuna in the Skagerrak. Their research has shown that these large fish travel down to the Mediterranean to play, but that they also visit seamounts along the east coast of Canada, where they dive to a depth of more than a kilometre to hunt for food. Researchers now hope to capture smaller tuna in the Skagerrak to confirm that younger fish have also found their way there.

The day concluded with a sea rescue service helicopter visiting the research boat in the Skagerrak, and The King was given a demonstration of how a surface rescue is carried out in the open sea.

The King with SLU researchers Gustav Hellström, Tomas Brodin and Andreas Sundelöf, SLU's Vice-Chancellor Maria Wedel and Daniel Melin from the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

The King with SLU researchers Gustav Hellström, Tomas Brodin and Andreas Sundelöf, SLU's Vice-Chancellor Maria Wedel and Daniel Melin from the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Photo: The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

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