4.) Opening up closed-cycles
Ichthus Unlimited (IU) LLC and its president Alejandro Buentello, a former university lecturer and Fulbright Scholar, are looking to use cutting-edge science to remove bottleneck issues for closed-cycle bluefin tuna farming in North America over the course of five years.
Buentello told SeafoodSource in April that the project, which may cost as much as USD 50 million (EUR 44.4 million), will build on pioneering efforts already made by Japanese scientists and could revolutionize the highly competitive – and lucrative – market for bluefin tuna.
“Not even caviar pays as well as top-quality bluefin tuna pays, but natural populations are extremely imperiled,” he told SeafoodSource Executive Editor Cliff White. “The Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) is subjected to extreme fishing pressure and recent assessments indicate that the stock now stands at around 4 percent of historical levels. Other bluefin tuna species are also classified as vulnerable or critically endangered by international management agencies.”
Buentello shares more about how his West Des Moines, Iowa-based company plans to roll out its work in the leading feature “Ichthus Unlimited building closed-cycle bluefin tuna operation in California and Mexico,” available to read here.
