Europe’s First Tuna Breeding Center Opens

Europe’s first ‘tuna breeding center’ was opened last week in Mazarrón, Spain, by the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela.
The center contains four large tanks for the captive breeding of bluefin tuna and has required an overall investment of around EUR 6 million to build.

The collaboration between Eduardo Balguerías, Director of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), and Francisco Garcia, Mayor of the Spanish town Mazarrón, aims to raise tuna from hatchlings which are produced in the center.

The facility also aims to extend the periods of reproduction beyond the natural spawning cycles in May, June and July, so that the captive bluefin may reproduce all year round.

The IEO has been working in the breeding and larval rearing of the species for a decade, and has set its sights on reducing the high mortality rates of bluefin tuna before they reach the juvenile phase.

The building covers an area of over 2,600 square meters and houses four tanks for tuna breeding. Two of them are 20 meters in diameter and 10 meters deep, and the other two are 14 and 8 meters respectively, containing a total of 7 million liters of water.