Another step forward in the domestication of bluefin tuna

Wednesday, December 01, 2010, 04:40 (GMT + 9)

A staff of scientists from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) have been able to, for the first time in Europe, adapt captive juvenile bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in floor services. So significantly, this has only been accomplished with 4 species of tuna in Japan, Australia and the United States.

The project was carried out by scientists Fernando de la Gándara and Aurelio Ortega, and technicians Juan Ramón Prieto and Javier Viguri of the tuna farming team from the IEO. The study is taking spot at the Centre for Marine Cultivation of the Oceanographic Centre of Murcia, in which they managed to adapt a school of juvenil bluefin tuna, caught off the coast of Murcia, to floor services.

The tuna, which weigh one particular kilogram, have put in the last 15 days in a fiberglass tank wherever they are currently being fed chopped anchovy and sardine, and seem to be showing &quotvery energetic feeding behavior,&quot mentioned the IEO.

This adaptation has been tried unsuccessfully in preceding years. This time it was attained by means of the use of a tank of greater proportions, and enhanced techniques of capture, transport and dealing with.

This positive end result represents a breakthrough in the domestication of the species, which had been efficiently reached in Japan, Australia and America, with Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis), southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and blackfin tuna (Thunnus atlanticus), but not for the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus).

Some of the bluefin tuna were caught by trolling with a hook without killing them off the coast of Mazarrón, and transported right to the facilities of the Centre for Marine Cultivation in Mazarrón.

Other people had been caught off Cape Palos which ended up previously accustomed to captivity in cages located in the bay of El Gorguel prior to currently being transported to IEO services in Mazarrón.

In the very first scenario they attained a 70 per cent survival price, although the second was 100 per cent, generally simply because these fish had been by now adapted to captivity in cages.

This activity is component of the 3rd phase of the European task SELFDOTT (Self-sustained Aquaculture and Domestication of Bluefin Tuna), which research the progress of cultivation of bluefin tuna in captivity.

The investigation aims to create artificial diet programs for this species that are efficient and environmentally helpful.

The tactics implemented for the adaptation of bluefin tuna in captivity in floor services will be employed in the TANQUE venture, cofinanced by FEDER.

This venture, led by Aurelio Ortega, will offer the IEO with a excellent facility for the reproduction of bluefin tuna, which consists of a tank which is 25 meters in diameter and 12 meters deep. There they strategy to maintain the bluefin tuna broodstock to obtain feasible eggs from this species.

By Silvina Corniola
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com