Farmed tuna. (Photo Credit: Kinki University)
Kinki University (Kindai) expects that by 2020 there will have been a threefold increase in the farmed bluefin tuna obtained through an innovative technique it developed to offset overfishing impacts on this resource.
The university is confident that the new way of raising bluefin tuna from eggs to maturity, whose meat has been named Kindai tuna, will contribute for annual shipments to increase from 2,000 to 3,000 this year, and to 6,000 by 2020, The Japan Timesreported.
Meanwhile, given the decline in bluefin tuna stocks in the Pacific Ocean, Japan and other tuna-fishing economies are due to tighten fisheries control measures starting next year.
University Kinki's project was appealing to Tuna Dream Goto Co, a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corp, with headquarters in Nagasaki prefecture, which has become a commercial partner and certified producer of Kindai tuna.
“As moves to protect natural resources are increasing, it is clear that demand for Kindai tuna will rise,” said Yoshiki Miura, head of Toyota Tsusho’s Food and Agribusiness Division.
At first Kindai tuna will be supplied to tuna restaurants run by the university and to department stores across Japan but then it will be sold overseas, such as in North America and Southeast Asia.
Goto raises young fish that the university hatches from eggs and thanks to the use of the techniques developed by the University, it has become successful in making tuna reach adulthood.
Kinki University, whose aquaculture programme and research started in 1948, was the first organization to successfully raise red sea bream and amberjack using full-cycle aquaculture, a process that involves raising fish from eggs to adults, rather than from juvenile fish caught in the wild.
This institution intends to continue to push the boundaries of aquaculture research, with the ultimate goal of reducing pressure on wild fish stocks and cultivating the oceans of the world through the reintroduction of fish.