Murcia news, there's something laying golden eggs, but there's no sign of geese in the regions meadows

Economic recession forces re-evaluation, and here in the Region of Murcia, declining revenues for construction and the knock on effects of this downturn force the Region into looking for emerging industries and opportunities for the future.

This area has been an important source of food production for centuries, and both scientists and businesses are looking to this tradition as a potential source of employment and revenue, but not via the more obvious means of farming the rich soils of the campo, but farming the waters which border it.

Fish farming is nothing new, but it's the species in question which is generating interest: red tuna.
Wild tuna stocks are declining rapidly due to over-fishing of this important fish, quotas of only 13,500 tons being permitted for 2010, as opposed to an average of 32,000 tons in previous years to try and preserve sufficient breeding stocks.

Tuna is being farmed in many countries, and has been a product of the region since 1995, fish farming employing around 1000 people and generating annual revenues of  96 million euros.
One of the greatest barriers , however, to the growth of this industry, is the process of raising tuna from eggs in captivity, something which has proved elusively difficult for researchers worldwide, tuna being relatively easy to fatten in captivity but not to raise from eggs.

The Centro Oceanográfico de Murcia, part of the Instituto Español de Oceanografía , IEO ( Spanish Institute of oceanography) have been engaged in research to try and breed tuna from eggs, in conjunction with Professor Manabu Seoka from the University of Kinki in Japan, who lead the only research team which has managed to breed tuna in captivity.

During July, they signed an agreement with a consortium of bodies to fund further research, and build a breeding tank with support from the European FEDER fund, which has now been done and is already bearing fruits, or rather, fish.

The first fry were born in the research labs of the IEO in San Pedro del Pinatar in July, from thousands of eggs taken from the waters of the fattening nets out off the coast.
The eggs were caught  in special suction collectors which filter the water, and were quickly taken to the breeding tank in the labs as they deteriorate rapidly if not placed into ideal conditions for hatching within a very short time. Once stabilised, some were then sent off to other laboratories in France, Greece and Israel where other studies are also taking place.

Until fairly recently it was thought that the tuna could not lay eggs in captivity as they are by nature a migratory fish, and marine biologists had believed that they needed to make these extensive journeys before being able to produce eggs, but it is now understood that this is not the case, although the fish can lay eggs in captivity , the water conditions are not appropriate for ensuring the survival of the young once they hatch.

After extensive research the labs have now begun to understand the optimum conditions required to encourage these eggs to hatch, and  from this first batch of eggs, they managed to rear a number of fry, 60 of which have survived to  reach a weight of 50 grams.

These precious little survivors have now been returned to the natural waters of the sea and are receiving the same feed as the adults gaining weight steadily, although still some way from the 150 gram weight which will allow researchers to relax their vigil, with a realistic chance of making it to adulthood.

These are the first red tuna ever raised from eggs within Europe, so their progress is being monitored with breath held, the hopes being that they will open the door to a breeding process which will revolutionise the farming of red tuna, one of the most lucrative of commercial fish.

And as the economic crisis continues to wreak havoc with the traditional industries of the region, the researchers, heartened by their success, analyse and test, creating the perfect salinity, the perfect light, the perfect temperature required to start larger scale production of farmed tuna, with Murcia at the heart of the research, the extensive fisheries off our coastline the centre of the project, these tiny little fish the first in what will hopefully become a very large number of fat,  lucrative tuna .

 

Extra note
Following the furore which was created when saboteurs cut the nets of one of the regions' fish farms and released a tidal wave of plump fish into the keepnets of the regions delighted fishermen, La Union has proposed an ordenanza governing the laws and usage of it's Portman Beach.
Members of the local neighbours association were deeply unhappy that one of the fishermen, obviously not a local man, mistook the head of the association for a tourist and told him that " if he didn't like them fishing he could go and swim somewhere else."
Outraged residents complained to the council, who have proposed the Ordenanza to ensure that fishermen are banned from fishing in swimming areas, and any fishermen now have 2 months in which to object before this becomes law.
By the time the law is passed, freezers should be well stocked and the bonanza mopped up with thick bread after swimming in a sea of garlic and olive oil, washed down with a nice drop of regional wine.
And the neighbours association can swim where they like, when they like,  without being insulted.

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