After a scaled back affair for the past two years due to COVID-19, the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament and Festival will be back pre-pandemic style this year.
“We’re excited to finally be planning on having a more normal Tournament and Festival this year,” says Brandon Doucette, president of the Wedgeport Tuna Tournament Association.
Doucette said while the schedule is still being finalized, the festival will be held from Aug. 20 to 27 with similar events to prior years. The fishermen will leave for the fishing grounds on Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. and must return by the morning of Aug. 27. Each vessel is allowed to land one bluefin tuna. There is no restriction on the number of other tuna species such as albacore, big eye and yellowfin that can be landed.
Organizers have made changes to the location of the tuna weigh-ins during the tournament as well as frequency.
“We’re planning on having the live tuna weigh-ins each night at 6 p.m. (Wednesday to Friday) if boats arrive back early and then the rest of the boats will be weighed-in on Saturday morning. We tried this last year for the first time and it worked well,” says Doucette.
“This is also better for the quality of the tuna, that all gets sold on the commercial market for food.”
The weigh-ins will also be at the Wedgeport Breakwater Wharf this year, the same wharf where they held last year for the first time.
“This wharf is only a two or three-minute drive from the Tuna Museum where we have our big tent, so we’ll be able to shuttle visitors between the weigh-ins at the Breakwater Wharf and the Museum where the food and entertainment will be on the Saturday,” said Doucette.
For further information, visit the tournament’s website at https://www.wedgeporttuna.ca/
