03/10/2012 - Gloucester, Mass., on the northeast tip of the Bay
State, is one of the oldest fishing towns in the United States.
It may also be the continent’s best departing point to find the
hardest-to-catch fish on the planet. Those would be bluefin
tuna, the highly-prized flesh used in upscale sushi, for which
Japanese consumers will pay up to $10,000 for a single fish.
Taken from icy waters, one can weigh as much as 800 pounds.
Wrestling it into a bobbing boat takes more skill and
coordination than riding an angry bull. That’s the premise of
Wicked Tuna, a show produced by National Geographic Channel
that’s attracted both accolades and consternation before the
series’ first episode airs on April 1. The reason is that the
bluefin itself is currently listed as a threatened species by
international conservation groups, which have imposed quotas to
keep the fish from heading toward the whirlpool of extinction.
In some ways bluefin are the perfect species to pursue. “It’s
hard to be opposed to the selective fi