A research group led by Professor Yoshifumi Sawada (Aquaculture Research Institute) of the Kinki University Fisheries Research Institute has succeeded in marine cultivation of juvenile Kihada tuna in Panama, Central America, with the support of the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.It is likely to attract attention from all over the world as it will lead to the realization of aquaculture of yellowfin tuna, which is worried about the decrease in resources.
Aquaculture was carried out at the Achochines Institute in Los Santos, Panama.In April, about 4 fertilized eggs were collected from adult yellowfin tuna raised in a land tank in the laboratory.7 fry that were artificially hatched and raised to an average total length of 3,000 cm were transferred to a marine cage off the coast of the laboratory and bred for 12.1 days.The 238 fish that survived the cage have grown to an average total length of 26 cm, and have been moved to a large aquarium on land again for continued breeding. As of the end of August, an estimated 68 fish have survived and are said to be swimming vigorously in the aquarium.
There are eight types of tuna in the world, and in recent years, about 8 million tons have been landed annually.Of this, yellowfin tuna is about 190 million tons, accounting for 120% of the total.However, tuna stocks are declining, and yellowfin tuna are also classified as a mild concern, including the designation of Pacific bluefin tuna as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Japan has an urgent need to establish aquaculture technology for yellowfin tuna only in the world's largest consumer, which holds 25% of all tuna in its stomach.For this reason, the Kindai Fisheries Research Institute, which has succeeded in complete aquaculture of bluefin tuna, has been working on the cultivation of yellowfin tuna in Panama by applying the technology of bluefin tuna.Latin American countries have been interested in the research results from early on, saying that if the yellowfin tuna aquaculture technology is established, new special products will be born.
