Tuna

Tuna farming

Thunnus albacores	Thunnus thynnus	Thunnus macoyii
(Yellowfin tuna)	(Northern bluefin tuna)	(Southern bluefin tuna)
Mexico	Spain	Australia

 

Tuna production has seen a dramatic increase in recent years with numerous countries becoming interested in this activity, particularly in the Mediterranean. It should be noted that, for the moment, this is only capture-based aquaculture (CBA) : wild juveniles are caught at sea and grown on in cages. Also, a large part of this aquaculture is based on feeding with fodder fish (whole fish caught in the wild). The main objective of this activity has been to make better use of captures by selling tuna on the Japanese market to respond to a specific demand (Ifremer/Yves Harache, Jean Louis Gaignon).

New European rules, particularly those concerning the minimum size at capture (presently 10 kg but soon to be 30 kg), could make this type of aquaculture unfeasible.

FAO 2007 (2005 data)