Could giant tuna fishing return to the Yorkshire coast?

“For a UK fish they are the most exciting and spectacular you can get by a country mile, no question.”

Catching an Atlantic bluefin tuna is often a career highlight for an angler.

Last weekend a commercial vessel’s crew caught and landed a 338kg fish off the coast of Whitby, becoming the first to do so in the North Sea for an estimated 60 years.

The following day, they did it again, with the story generating national and international headlines.

After decades away, the species – dubbed the “Rolls Royce of the sea” – is thought to have returned to the Yorkshire coast in recent years.

There are hopes its re-emergence could lead to a renaissance for “tunny” fishing, as it is still known in Scarborough and Whitby.

In the 1930s the rich and famous flocked to Scarborough for the chance to catch the prized tunny for sport.

The bluefin tuna, a migratory species, originally arrived in North Sea waters in search of herring to feed on when stocks of the latter were healthy.

Their presence was soon spotted by local fishermen and “word spread”, according to Mark Vesey, chair of the Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre.

“It became big game hunting for some very wealthy gentlemen,” says Vesey.

“All these people were well-to-do. Some of them went off hunting fish in the Bahamas or big game in Africa. That was their sport, their hobby.

“It was really about catching it as a sport and having it weighed and being pictured standing next to it.”

The catches were incredible and many were recorded by the Scarborough Tunny Club.

In 1933 Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry, an Irish angler, caught an 386kg (851lb) tunny off the coast of Whitby, which remains a British record for the biggest landed.