Fisherman Dies While Fighting Tuna

A fisherman discovered an empty boat cruising off the North Carolina coast Tuesday morning with its harpoon line in the water.

When he reeled in the line, he found a live bluefin tuna speared on the end -- and the captain's entangled body.

The captain, Bruce Bartlett of South Plainfield, N.J., apparently harpooned the fish, then got his left leg caught in the 200-foot line, Coast Guard officials said. When the tuna swam away, Bartlett was pulled into the ocean off Morehead City and drowned.

Bartlett was a commercial fisherman who traveled up and down the coast, Coast Guard officials said. He was alone in the 35-foot boat, named Flat Calm, when he died, fighting a fish that can weigh from 200 to 500 pounds.

"They're not easy to handle by yourself," said Ensign Andy Green-wood, with the Coast Guard's Fort Macon group.

Greenwood said Bartlett's was one of several boats that left Morehead City early Tuesday. He was last seen at 8 a.m.

About 9:30 a.m., another fisherman found Bartlett's boat 13 miles offshore, its motor running. The man climbed aboard and pulled up about 150 feet of the line before finding Bartlett's body, Greenwood said. The catch was on the line, but it got away before Coast Guard officials arrived.

Efforts to reach Bartlett's family Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Anthony Ng of Winterville, a commercial fisherman who was also in the area Tuesday morning, said 6- and 7-foot swells were battering the boats.

He said many fishermen work alone, hauling in tuna on giant rods, then stabbing them with harpoons and chasing them until they tire. A single tuna can sell for thousands of dollars.

Ng said it is more profitable to work alone but, of course, more dangerous. "Those fish, they pull hard," he said. "All it takes is one slip."

The Coast Guard advises against fishing alone. But even having company can't always prevent accidents. In 1994, a man was pulled overboard during the Morehead City-based Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. He had wrapped line around his arm and was trying to pull a fish aboard a 52-foot boat. His body was never found.