UK bluefin tuna season opens for 2026 with double the boat permits

The UK's bluefin tuna season opened on Monday 13 July 2026 across English, Welsh and Scottish waters. For commercial boats it's a genuine landing fishery under quota; for recreational anglers it's catch-and-release only, and that distinction matters for anyone tempted to book a trip expecting a fish for the table.

The numbers moved a long way this year. Commercial vessels have 30 permits available, double the previous season, with the quota per boat up from 3 to 4 tonnes. On the recreational side, every one of the 89 licensed charter boats received a permit, and 56 private boat owners were selected by ballot from a much larger pool of applicants. If you don't own a boat with a permit, a charter trip is by far the more realistic route in.

There's one rule worth knowing before you book: every vessel, charter or private, must carry someone who has completed Angling Trust catch-and-release training before that trip can legally go ahead. It's not a box-ticking formality — the training covers safe handling and release technique specifically to protect fish that are, by law, going straight back in the water.

Officials are framing this as "managed growth" — balancing the UK's international quota commitments against the objectives of the Fisheries Act 2020, with the expansion following successful quota negotiations between the Marine Management Organisation, Defra, CEFAS and the Angling Trust. For UK sea anglers, it's a rare good-news story: a species that was fished to near-collapse in European waters decades ago now supporting a growing, tightly managed fishery on our own coast.