Wayde Nichols and four fishing pals looked forward to catching hard-fighting tuna as their sport-fishing boat motored out of Mission Bay on Friday night. They never expected to become the catch themselves.

In the middle of the night, their boat struck something that rendered it dead in the water.

Flashing a spotlight into the sea, they could hardly believe their eyes. Their 48-foot vessel, the Señor Hefe, had become entangled in a floating tuna pen half the size of a football field.

The collision, which occurred in international waters about 30 miles southwest of Ensenada, is one of the few maritime accidents involving the growing number of tuna ranches off Baja California.

During their 12-hour ordeal in the tuna pen, the Señor Hefe crew members alternated between terror and excitement. In between periods of intense negotiations to free their boat, they experienced the adrenaline rush of a wide-open tuna bite inside the pen.

Eventually, a U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat and helicopter escorted the Señor Hefe back to Mission Bay early Sunday. The vessel suffered an estimated $75,000 in damage.

“We were so lucky. We could have easily sunk the boat,” said Nichols, 44, who lives in Vista.

Nichols praised the Coast Guard for arriving in a timely manner and preventing Mexican authorities from possibly arresting him and seizing his boat. He said a Mexican patrol boat had rushed to the scene, and the sailors weren't friendly.

Nichols, a former Coast Guardsman, contends the accident wouldn't have happened if the tuna pen had been properly lighted and outfitted with adequate radar reflectors.

“This thing should have been lit up like a Christmas tree,” Nichols said. “It was in the middle of an area where lots of sport fishers go.”

However, a spokesman for Acuacultura de Baja California, an Ensenada-based business that owns a tuna-ranching operation, said the company is not at fault.

The tuna pen, or cage, had two lights that were operating when the collision occurred, said the company's legal adviser, Matias Arjona.

“There are 50 to 60 floating cages out there from different companies,” he said. “All of them have the same lighting.”

Acuacultura's 10 tuna pens off Baja have never been hit by a vessel, Arjona said. The pen involved in the accident sustained $7,000 to $8,000 in damage.

The tuna-ranching segment of aquaculture is practiced worldwide, including in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. It came to Baja California in 1996.

Each year's ranching cycle off Baja starts in the summer, when commercial fishing boats net wild tuna. The tuna are transferred to pens that have rings outfitted with buoys so they float. Nylon netting extends up to 130 feet under water, keeping the tuna in and predators such as sea lions out.

Commercial fishing vessels move the pens around, and the tuna are fattened with sardines or anchovies for several months before sale. Most of the grown fish are exported to Japan, where they can fetch up to $45 per pound.

The bluefin tuna raised in the pens off Baja were the same quarry being pursued by Nichols and his buddies: Gary Bobel of Carlsbad, Anthony Saputo of San Diego, Dan Liston of Oceanside and Tim Carew of San Clemente.

Their trip began at 8 p.m. Friday as they traveled toward a tuna hot spot called the 295 Fathom Spot, about 65 miles southwest of San Diego.

About 7½ hours into the voyage, the sleepy fishermen were jarred awake by a horrific noise. At first, they thought their boat had struck a weather buoy or a small skiff.

Further inspection revealed that the Señor Hefe had overrun the plastic framing ringing the tuna pen. The boat was marooned in the middle, its propellers entangled in the netting.

At first, the crew of the vessel towing the pen wasn't aware of the accident. It continued pulling the pen – with the Señor Hefe snagged inside – for two hours until spotting the Americans.

After the sun came up, the Mexicans tending the tuna pen transferred most of the fish to another floating cage.

Then, a Mexican patrol boat with armed sailors turned up and asked Nichols for permission to board the Señor Hefe. Nichols said he refused, citing his rights as a U.S.-flagged ship in international waters.

“They had every intention of taking control of my boat and taking us to jail in Ensenada,” Nichols said.

Just as the damaged pen was opened, freeing the Señor Hefe, a Coast Guard helicopter swooped down. The chopper's crew ordered the Mexican sailors to back away. Heavy turbulence from the propellers also forced the sailors to abort their mission.

“It was a bit of a showdown,” said Terence Cox, a San Francisco maritime attorney, who is helping Nichols deal with the insurance claims from both parties.

Saputo, one of those aboard the Señor Hefe, called the experience “the scariest and best fishing trip of our lives.”

The good part, Saputo said, was when the pen's operators allowed the bored Americans to fish inside the cage. The Señor Hefe returned with 20 bluefin tuna.

“Of all the far-fetched fishing stories in my life, I've never heard the likes of this one I just participated in,” said Bobel. “This is one I'll pass on to my grandchildren.”

---

terry.rodgers@uniontrib.com Terry Rodgers: (619) 542-4566;