Researchers Assessing Tuna Aquaculture in Mexico

NARRAGANSETT—Tuna farming in large nearshore net pens is expanding rapidly along Mexico's Baja-Pacific coast, driven by increasing U.S. and Japanese demand for the farmed tuna, which are reportedly higher in oil content and thus desirable for sushi.

Unlike closed-systems aquaculture, where fish are bred from captive stock, fed formulated feeds, and reared in captivity, Mexican tuna farming operations are ranches and use wild caught fish for stocks and feeds. If these practices are done correctly, Mexico could serve as a global center of excellence for evolving an environmentally and socially sustainable tuna farming industry.

Researchers from the United States and Mexico are undertaking an assessment of the tuna farming science, practices, governance, and social issues to determine recommendations on best practices and methods needed to develop successful and economical captive reproduction, feeds, and non-polluting systems for tuna farming.

Funded by the Packard Foundation, researchers Barry A. Costa-Pierce, director of Rhode Island Sea Grant and professor of Fisheries and Aquaculture at the University of Rhode Island; Charles Yarish, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut; and José Zertuche, professor of marine botany at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Norte Ensenada, Mexico, along with associates, are assessing tuna and sardine stocks along the southern California, northwest Baja, and Gulf of California coasts; examining aquaculture practices and networks; and evaluating governance and social issues associated with this “capture-based” tuna farming.

“The Japanese demand for bluefin tuna is at an all time high, and tuna is the second-most popular seafood in the United States. Tuna capture fisheries have decimated Atlantic stocks, and, while tuna fisheries in the Pacific are in much better shape, the trends towards increased fishing of Pacific tuna stocks are alarming. It is urgent we develop an internationally credible scientific basis for sustainable tuna farming that could decrease pressure on tuna tocks, while also being environmentally and socially sustainable,” Costa-Pierce says.

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