(Alderney Wildlife Trust via SWNS)
By Lauren Beavis
Video shows a “spectacular” feeding frenzy of the “world’s most expensive fish” – bluefin tuna.
The epic spectacle – known as a “boiling sea” – was recorded off Alderney in the Channel Islands.
The video, taken by a drone flying at a safe distance of at least 50m (164ft), shows the water churned into a white circle of breaking waves while hundreds of seabirds gathered above.
This “boiling sea” is caused by large numbers of Atlantic bluefin tuna hunting together in a feeding frenzy.
Tuna have returned to Alderney’s waters in recent years, and this footage marks one of the first times such a frenzy has been filmed from above by a drone.
The highest price for a single bluefin tuna cost a sushi magnate 333.6 million yen – £2,022,784 – in 2019.
A spokesperson for Alderney Wildlife Trust said these incredible fish are making a comeback in Alderney and across the British Isles after their numbers were wiped out by industrial fishing.
They said: “Seeing tuna feed in these numbers was once commonplace, before fishing decimated their populations.
“It is remarkable to see our seas beginning to recover.
“Witnessing a shoal of tuna feeding is an unforgettable experience – our own oceanic equivalent of a pride of lions hunting wildebeest.”
Bluefin tuna numbers are rising across the UK after being virtually absent in the 1990s, thanks to a recovery plan set up by the International Commission for the Conservation of
Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
According to the Marine Conservation Society, it is not yet clear whether populations have reached sustainable levels to withstand commercial fishing.
A spokesperson for the Marine Conservation Society added: “We must do everything we can to support their recovery and not let history repeat itself through another untimely demise.”
The video was shot on Sept. 8.