A commercial crew fishing off the San Diego coast landed a Pacific bluefin tuna weighing 446 pounds after its gills and internal organs were removed, with an estimated whole weight approaching 500 pounds. The fish was brought in this week aboard the *Shearwater* by Capt. Markus Medak, and delivered to a Point Loma seafood market that supplies local restaurants.
Because the tuna was taken during a commercial trip, it is not eligible for sport-caught record recognition. The current California state sport record for Pacific bluefin is 395 pounds 6 ounces, set by Floyd Sparks at Tanner Bank in 2021, and the International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record for the species stands at 907 pounds 6 ounces. If the San Diego fish had been taken on a sportfishing trip, its dressed weight alone would have exceeded the standing California mark by more than 50 pounds.
Pacific bluefin tuna are highly migratory and can cross the entire Pacific Ocean during their lifetimes. Fish tagged in the eastern Pacific have been documented traveling to waters near Japan and returning to the West Coast; the head of the San Diego fish is scheduled to be examined by a local scientist to help determine its origin. The species has been the subject of coordinated international rebuilding efforts through the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, and Pacific bluefin catch quotas along the West Coast are managed year to year based on those stock assessments.
The Southern California bluefin season traditionally runs from late spring into the fall, with the largest fish typically taken between July and October when warmer surface water pushes schools closer to shore. Weather patterns tied to El Niño years have been associated with higher counts of large bluefin along the California coast, along with occasional sightings of tropical pelagic species that would normally range farther south. The San Diego dressed weight of 446 pounds is among the largest recorded landings for the species in Southern California waters in recent years.
