We’ve been wet and cold for 12 hours, looking for Yellowfin tuna. Around us, three other vessels are using their powerful strobe lights to turn night into day. Everyone furiously pumps circular hand-reels, hoping for a bite. The reels are occasionally exchanged for long-handled nets, used to pluck out fast-moving squid lured by the light. It’s a colourful carnival in the middle of the sea.
Splash! The first tuna is landed. It’s a handsome 36-kilogramme Yellowfin, dazed after being pulled up from the depths. Soon, we reel in another. Employing proper techniques, both fish are hauled aboard and gently placed in an ice-box to preserve meat quality. We head back before the sun rises. The night’s fishing is done.
