Hiya
Just curious, do any of you guys know how to properly prepare tuna for the eastern market. A couple of recreational fisherman here in South Africa, have taken to exporting their catches. The preparation of the fish is of utmost importance. These chaps are very secretive about their tecniques, so maybe one of you guys could help out. From what i've gather, the fish is caught on very heavy tackle (130lb class tackle). Fish sizes are between 40-80kg's. The fish is then brought as soon as possible to the boat, and carefully gaffed and brought aboard. When gaffed and pulled into the boat, the fish shouldn't be banged and the deck or gunnels as this will damage the flesh. The shorter fight with heavier gear also decreases the lactic build-up in the meat. The tuna is then put onto a hessian mat and cut at the base of the tail, so as to bleed the fish. The head is then cut off and a wire is threaded through the centre of the spine, to remove all the nerves. The fish is then packed in ice ready for export. After fishing a courier vehicle takes the iced fish directly to the airport. It is then flown to which-ever fish market in the east. Upon arriving in the east, some sort of expert looks at the quality and then gives a price. Sometimes the quality isn'y so good and you get a small price, where-as when the quality is good, you get exorbitant prices. Well actually anything is better than the US$0.71 (yip, 71cents per kilo) we get a kilo for YF tuna!!!! I've heard of figures around US$350.00 per kilo if the quality is right.
Like i said before, all of this is information i've gleaned from rather tight lipped fisherman. Some authentication of this information would be welcome.
Regards
miles