BMEA

Garmin is pleased to announce the support of the AIRMAR Tuna Challenge in Scotland with their latest Fishfinder technology.

Garmin has outfitted the project boat with a full suite of cutting edge marine electronics including Garmin’s new GSD 26, the company’s new echosounder with revolutionary spread spectrum (CHIRP) technology. “We’re excited to join AIRMAR in a project that showcases our latest serious fishfinding technology that has completely changed the fishfinder industry,” quoted Nigel Craine, Garmin’s European Marine OEM Sales Manager. The project boat, ‘Keep it Reel’ is a 40’ Rodman 1250 Fisher Pro owned by Barry Larsen, famous motorboat racer and sportfishing enthusiast.

AIRMAR Technology Corporation ‘Bluefin Tuna – Past and Present’, summer fishing expedition is focused on utilizing the latest fishfinding technology to locate Atlantic bluefin tuna in the waters surrounding Scotland. This species has been overfished in the last twenty years but some recent studies and climatic changes are showing an encouraging rebirth of the North Atlantic population thanks to some great conservation efforts in the Western Atlantic. “We see this as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate AIRMAR’s new CHIRP technology,” quoted Bertrand Picarda, General Manager AIRMAR EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). AIRMAR’s new broadband transducers deliver five times greater sensitivity and performance than current fishfinder technology and are the enabling technology for next generation CHIRP (compressed high-intensity radar pulse) fishfinders. “Our goal is to demonstrate the return of the bluefin tuna in our region by utilizing the latest echosounder technology,” added Picarda.

As the Leader of the expedition, Picarda has pulled together a team of industry experts dedicated to raising the profile of big game fishing in Europe. Besides being an employee of AIRMAR Technology Corp., Picarda has over a decade of experience in big game fishing with general and proven results in BFT (Bluefin tuna) competitions in the Mediterranean from 1998 through 2003 including two national titles in the French Tuna Fishing Championship in 2001 & 2002.

The expedition will begin on June 21st in North Minch, the Atlantic sea channel between the Outer Hebrides island group on the west and the mainland of Scotland on the east. The channel varies in width between 25 and 45 miles (40 and 70 km) and has both great depth and a rapid current. The expedition will take place from June – October with the team’s goal of fishing ten days per month in different locations.

For full project details including a team biography, boat information including a full list of equipment, itinerary and photos, please visit www.airmar.com/blog.