With more teams, more prize money and more events, the 2024 Boothbay Harbor Tuna Challenge promises to be the largest yet. In its third year, 90 teams will compete Sept. 2-5 for a combined $100,000 in prize money.

The winning team will take home $40,000, while second place will earn $19,500, third place $10,500, fourth place $3,000, and fifth place $2,000. However, the biggest change is the cumulative weight category, which increased from $5,000 to $25,000. 

“We are really rewarding the guys that are catching fish every day versus just the guys that are catching the largest because that really shows who's the best fishermen,” said Jax van der Veen, chair of the tuna challenge committee. 

Last year, they were one in the same when Isaac Molt won both first place and overall weight category. Molt and many other captains will come back, and van der Veen said the competition has an almost 100% return rate.  

However, van der Veen said there will be new faces this year including Linda Greenlaw, the competition’s first female captain. Overall, organizers increased competitors from 75 to 90 based off last year’s waitlist but want to keep the competition manageable. 

“We don't want it to be such a big tournament that it's not really too big for all the guys to be fishing in and around the same area, but big enough that the guys that are interested from last year were able to get in,” she said.  

Fishing starts at 12 a.m. Sept. 2 and concludes at 11:30  p.m. Sept. 5. There will be no fishing Sept. 3 due to a National Marine Fisheries Service shutdown day. On land, spectators can watch boats come in and weigh ins at Carousel Marina and fish being processed at Atlantic Edge Lobster.

For detailed information on when fishermen will arrive in the harbor, rankings, photos and updates, the organization has a free app. Users can search for “Boothbay Harbor Tuna Challenge” in both the iPhone and Android stores. Fans can also follow the challenge on social media.  

“We were the first tournament in the state of Maine to do it last year, and now the other five tournaments in the state, they do it as well,” van der Veen said about the app. "I think that we're being really innovative in what we're doing, and the other tournaments are following.” 

Besides the competition, van der Veen said there are several adjacent activities. There will be a canvas painting event Sept. 3, and local art teacher Jessica Nadeau will be making canvas prints over the fish. In addition, scientists from the University of Maine Pelagic Fisheries Lab will return to sample tuna as part of their work researching the fishery and its sustainability.  

As with years past, Boothbay Harbor Tuna Challenge organizers will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Fishermen's Memorial Fund. In addition, van der Veen said the challenge will donate funds this year to other organizations announced at the lobster bake and awards ceremony Sept. 7 at Carousal Marina. 

"We definitely are investing in the time to make it a really great community event and make it a good event for the fishermen as well,” she said.  "I think what we're most excited for is just to continue building on what we've already done and try and capitalize and do better than what we did last year, raise more money, and then build even more next year.”