Grey seals, minke whales and bluefin tuna: is the North Sea bouncing back to its glory days?

A minke whale breaching – they have been sighted in growing numbers in recent years along England’s North Sea coastline. Photograph: Tom McDonnell/The Wildlife Trusts/PA

From the outside, the Tunny Club looks like any other seaside fish and chip shop. A short walk from Scarborough harbour, only the photos of John Wayne and Errol Flynn on the wall betray the shop’s fleeting history as a global centre for big-game fishing.

In the 1930s, film stars and the ultra-wealthy flocked to the Yorkshire seaside resort for their chance to catch the enormous bluefin tuna – known as “tunny” – lurking off the North Sea coast. In 1933, aristocrat Lorenzo Mitchell-Henry reeled in what remains the largest fish ever caught in British waters: a 386kg bluefin tuna.