( courtesy ;internet).
Most tuna farming in Japan involves catching young tuna in the wild and cultivating them in coastal reserves – a practice that experts believe has contributed to plummeting populations of small fish. Kinki University, however, prides itself on a method it calls “complete cultivation”, in which the fish are artificially raised from egg to adulthood before the larvae are then used to start a new cycle.
Experts involved in the project say they still have a long way to go before they can farm enough tuna to meet demand. The survival rate for newly hatched fry is low, and rearing tuna in captivity requires vast areas of coastal water.
Shigeru Miyashita, of the university’s fisheries laboratory, said the rate at which researchers had successfully raised bluefin from egg to adult – without using any fish caught in the wild – had improved over the years. “Through the complete aqua-farming of bluefin tuna, we hope to help ensure the stability of the world’s marine resources,” Miyashita said. “But to make 10,000 tonnes of farmed adult tuna you need 1.6m fry. The other problem is space. Wild Pacific bluefin have the whole ocean to swim in, but we have to raise them in a confined area.
The university’s project received a boost at the end of last year when it joined forces with Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of the Japanese carmaker, to begin the mass farming of bluefin tuna hatchlings at a site in Goto, south-western Japan.
We started this project because we were concerned about the future of the bluefin tuna. Japanese people love tuna – we now want to encourage them to eat ours instead of the wild variety.”
story excerpts from the Guardian.
( courtesy ;internet).
Most tuna farming in Japan involves catching young tuna in the wild and cultivating them in coastal reserves – a practice that experts believe has contributed to plummeting populations of small fish. Kinki University, however, prides itself on a method it calls “complete cultivation”, in which the fish are artificially raised from egg to adulthood before the larvae are then used to start a new cycle.
Experts involved in the project say they still have a long way to go before they can farm enough tuna to meet demand. The survival rate for newly hatched fry is low, and rearing tuna in captivity requires vast areas of coastal water.
Shigeru Miyashita, of the university’s fisheries laboratory, said the rate at which researchers had successfully raised bluefin from egg to adult – without using any fish caught in the wild – had improved over the years. “Through the complete aqua-farming of bluefin tuna, we hope to help ensure the stability of the world’s marine resources,” Miyashita said. “But to make 10,000 tonnes of farmed adult tuna you need 1.6m fry. The other problem is space. Wild Pacific bluefin have the whole ocean to swim in, but we have to raise them in a confined area.
The university’s project received a boost at the end of last year when it joined forces with Toyota Tsusho, the trading arm of the Japanese carmaker, to begin the mass farming of bluefin tuna hatchlings at a site in Goto, south-western Japan.
We started this project because we were concerned about the future of the bluefin tuna. Japanese people love tuna – we now want to encourage them to eat ours instead of the wild variety.”
story excerpts from the Guardian.
