Joojifish

Saturday, April 12, 2003

One of the topics I've been researching is tuna aquaculture, and the day before yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit one of Japan's primary tuna aquaculture research facilities. The facility is operated by Kinki University and houses Pacific northern bluefin tuna raised from both artifically-hatched and wild-caught seedlings. (Yes, Kinki University is the school's actual name. No bad jokes asking about what they do there, please.)

One of my advisors at Tokai University arranged the visit and drove me to the place, which took 12 hours going and 8 hours returning. The facility was located off of Kushimoto, the southernmost town on the main Japanese Island of Honshu. A lead scientist took me and my advisor out to the tuna sea cages at feeding time. The largest fish we saw were 6-7 year-olds that had an average weight of 200kg each. They were amazing to watch--huge, sharply colored, and above all, fast. The tuna often broke the sea surface as they charged up and snapped up the mackerel tossed to them. I was fishstruck.

The visit was also highly educational, as I learned about potential international conflicts associated with tuna aquaculture. For example, countries such as Australia and Mexico want to adopt Kinki U's aquaculture techniques, but the methods will most likely be used to produce fish to be marketed to Japan. Japanese tuna farmers will be hurt by the increased competition, so they don't want Kinki U. to release the information. This is only one of many considerations brought up by the development of tuna aquaculture technology.
joojifish 12:49 PM - [Link]
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