clean seas to dupicate all australias tuna

Clean Seas to breed 25,000 tuna
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NIGEL AUSTIN
December 01, 2009 02:00pm
THE future of the southern bluefin tuna industry lies in the efforts by Clean Seas Tuna to breed the species in captivity, its founder Hagen Stehr said today.

Speaking at an international aquaculture science symposium in Adelaide, Mr Stehr said the company aimed to breed and rear 25,000 southern bluefin tuna juveniles at Arno Bay in the coming year.

"This is a very conservative estimate as we are committed to walking before we run,'' Mr Stehr said.

"However, it is entirely within possibility that we will far exceed that number in the next few years given the success of our collaboration partner Kinki University in Japan with northern bluefin tuna.

Last month, Kinki University transferred 190,000 aquaculture-bred tuna juveniles from its hatchery into sea cages off Japan.

Kinki is expected to produce a total roughly equivalent to Australia's total adjusted southern bluefin tuna quota of 4015 tonnes.

"It is highly realistic that in the medium term, Clean Seas will achieve the same production levels, effectively duplicating Australia's southern bluefin tuna wild catch quota every year,'' Mr Stehr said.

The world's leading aquaculture scientists endorse his view with global leaders lining up to help and learn, he said.

Dusseldorf University Professor Chris Bridges said Clean Seas is on the same trajectory as Kinki University, while the future of European tuna production lay in similar aquaculture programs.

"The challenges faced by the Mediterranean fishery and the nature of solutions being developed by Kinki and Clean Seas extend both to other fisheries around the world and to other species,'' he said.

"It explains the high level of interest from around the world in this symposium and in the results being achieved by Clean Seas.''

Mr Stehr said Clean Seas had achieved in three years, what Kinki had pioneered with northern bluefin tuna in the past 36 years.

He praised the global view on food security demonstrated by Kinki and the Japanese government through their provision of technical support to Clean Seas breeding program.

Mr Stehr said aquaculture was the only viable means of meeting the growing demand for protein-rich seafood with aquaculture predicted to supply more than 50 per cent of global production within two to three years.

The second Global Centre of Excellence Symposium of Kinki University is being hosted by the Adelaide-based Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Centre and Clean Seas Tuna.

More than 100 aquaculture scientists, academics and technicians are attending the symposium at the South Australian Research and Development Institute at West Beach.

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