Two EU funded research projects have both simultaneously produced millions of Tuna eggs after artificial induction of captive fish in sea cages in the Mediterranean.
In the SELFDOTT project (From capture based to SELF-sustained aquaculture and Domestication of bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus), daily spawnings consisting of more than 140 million eggs have been obtained at the project´s installations in Cartagena (Spain), which are managed by the Tuna Graso company, with a maximum of 34 million eggs on Friday 3rd July, a figure which has never been achieved in previous projects.
The second project ALLOTUNA based in Calabria and funded by the region Puglia at the Mare Nostrum facilities were able to produce up to a total of 46 million eggs over a number of days and reproduce for a second year running viable quantities of eggs for international hatcheries.
The numerous international hatcheries based in France, Spain, Malta, Crete and Israel are all now concentrating on the developing larvae. The international consortia of scientists used techniques from a previous EU funded project REPRODOTT to make this breakthrough.
This is a tremendous boost for the European Union funded projects to show that “eggs on demand “ may be a sustainable pathway for aquaculture and help the conservation of the dwindling tuna stocks in the future.
On the 7th of July in Spain excess eggs were returned to the sea and this symbolic historical act , when for the first time living Tuna eggs have been returned to the sea from breeding fish in captivity marks a small step on the road to recovery. The validity of such restocking programmes is hard to assess but every little could help together with other ecologically sustainable management concepts for wild and aquaculture stocks in the future.
For further information please click on this link to download a .pdf file with additional details, photographs and contact information.
Tags: atlantic bluefin tuna, Tuna
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