World First Now Also Achieved In Yellowfin Farming

For the first time worldwide, early-juvenile yellowfin spawned from a captive stock have been successfully transferred to sea cages. This comes after such milestones were already reached with bluefin tuna.

Working in cooperation, the IATTC, Kinki University and ARAP, have reported the result from research conducted at the IATTC’s Achotines Laboratory in Panama and the Fisheries Laboratories of Kinki University in Japan.

The milestone sees the first time that a transfer has been successful from laboratory tanks to a sea cage located nearby. The juveniles stocked in the sea cage were raised from larvae hatches from eggs spawned by captive yellowfin tuna broodstock. They were 52 days old and ranged in length from 9-13 cm.

‘3.5cm yellowfin tuna, photo provided by IATTC’

Joint research began in early 2011 and will continue until March next year, and is aimed at producing important comparative findings on the reproductive biology, genetics and early life history of yellowfin and Pacific bluefin tuna in order to improve the conservation and management of both species.

The IATTC has maintained a spawning population of yellowfin tuna in land based facilities at Achotines Laboratory since 1996, where ongoing experimental studies surrounding the species have been conducted for 18 years.