AUGUST 2009

Holy Mola!
by Linda McGrory Inishowennews.com

The crew of a Greencastle trawler got a surprise 'catch of the day' when they hauled up their nets to reveal one of the biggest fish they had ever seen.

The MFV Northern Celt was fishing at Stanton Bank around 25 miles north west of Malin Head when they netted the monster sunfish earlier this month. Fisherman Jim Farren said: "I've been fishing for 14 years and have seen a lot of sunfish over the years, but nothing this size." 'The beast' as the stunned local crewmen dubbed it, was more than 5ft long and nearly 6ft in height from fin-tip to fin-tip.

The ocean sunfish - Latin name, Mola Mola - is the world's largest bony fish. It has been known to tip the scales at two tonnes and can measure up to 11ft from fin-tip to fin-tip. Sunfishes are found in tropical as well as polar seas and can be mistaken for sharks, because of their large dorsal fin. This fine specimen was captured alive and released without harm by the Northern Celt crewmen including Juri Petrov from Estonia and Mark Reynolds from Greencastle.

It is the second time in recent weeks that a Sunfish has been spotted off the coast of Inishowen. At the end of July members of the Greencastle Coast Guard spotted a Sunfish off the coast while on a routine exercise off the coast.

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