The farming of bluefin tuna is on a strong upward growth trend that is set to see next year’s total global harvest reach a level double that of the volume recorded as recently as 2013, delegates heard at the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) GOAL 2017 conference in Dublin, Ireland.
Ragnar Tveteras, business economist at the University of Stavanger, Norway, explained that the sector had “broken out” of a seven-year production level of around 30,000 metric tons (MT) that had prevailed until 2013, when global production was at 31,050 MT, to reach 42,563 MT in 2014, and that consistent growth had been seen since then.
Bluefin production in 2015 and 2016 stood at 45,181 MT and 51,200 MT respectively.
The global forecast for this year is 58,120 MT, representing a further increase of 14 percent, said Tveteras, and this is expected to rise by another 9 percent in 2018 to 63,500 MT.
The growth is, he said, largely being driven by increased Mediterranean production, which totaled 22,000 MT last year and is forecast to reach levels of 29,000 MT and 34,000 MT in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Production levels in Australia, Mexico, and Japan are expected to show only minor changes over the same period.
The bluefin farming sector continues to be dominated by the at-sea ranching (or fattening) of wild-caught fish, but closed cycle production is expected to make a greater contribution as more systems come on stream.
