Domestication of Thunnus thynnus – DOTT

Abstract

The inception of the idea to domesticate the BFT as a European drive occurred while on a short sabbatical in Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Policy Center in 1996. I was looking for a species or a group of species that will help close the developing gap between demand and supply of fish in the future, fish species that will serve, in times to come, as the “beef cattle” of the sea. I was looking for a species that has a fast growth rate, good ratio of edible meat to body weight (70%) and a wide temperature range. After screening many species, I have come to considering the Blue Fin Tuna (BFT) as a candidate Species for Future Mariculture. Controlling the life cycle of the BFT will also help maintaining and enhancing its wild population in the future by developing a re-stocking program. I aired the idea with a few colleagues (who became friends over the years) and received encouraging reactions (first stations; CIHEAM meeting in Tanger, Morocco, and then at the Univ. of Cadiz, Spain). It turned out that my idea was not an original one - a few countries had already launched national BFT domestication programs. The initiative came on fertile soil: 55 participants, 25 different R&D institutions and industry around the Med., including Non EU members (Malta, Cyprus, Tunisia, Morocco, Croatia and Israel). We decided to apply for a Concerted Action Program in the Fifth Framework Programme under the “Quality of life and management of living resources” key action of the European Commission – Parallel to the national initiatives in Europe, which were taken place in Spain, Italy and France. The objectives of the Concerted Action program were to prepare the RTD campaign, including priorities, interdisciplinary methodology, rational interactions amongst the different scientific disciplines and the cascade of steps for implementation. Emphasis was on Integration of Fishing Industry, the BFT Farming Industry, governments and the RTD Program. We tried to draw inferences from lessons learned in other countries such as the USA, Australia, and Japan and design our program accordingly. We put together a good proposal. However, the proposal was rejected based on it being too ambitious and too weak on the socio-economics aspects. Well, it was a set back and a disappointment. However, we did not give up. We, resorted to the EU Accompanying Measure Program, wrote another proposal to fund a meeting in which the State of Art regarding the BFT different aspects will be told, experience of BFT farming around the world will be discussed and foundations for RTD proposals will be initiated. The proposal was accepted. We have formed a Steering Committee, which met 3 times (first to prepare the proposal, second to prepare the meeting and third, 3 weeks ago, to finalize the program of the Conference, and solve all the small problems that always crop up in the preparation of meetings like this one). We also spent many hours on the email exchanging ideas, written parts of the proposal and the conference to follow. The first Conference on the Domestication of the Blue Fin Tuna (DOTT) which was held in Cartagena, Spain, and which this volume is presenting most of the presentations offered during the 5 days meeting, should be considered as a successful event. I, for one, am very happy with the conference itself and the outcome. We have been informed on most BFT activities around the world; state of the wild populations, BFT fisheries and landings, BFT fattening operations in different parts of the world such as Japan, Australia, Mexico, Malta, Croatia and Spain. There were very enlighten session on many of the BFT biological traits such as reproduction, larval rearing, nutrition, as well as behavioral and straddling aspects of this species. Most of the reports where given by people who have had direct experience in dealing with the BFT, however, many presentations had theoretical components in them. Following the plenary sessions, which lasted two and a half days, the participants were divided into workshops, which dealt with a few major disciplines concerning the domestication of the BFT. Most of the workshops lasted for two sessions of a few hours each. The ultimate goal of the workshop was to come up with a program and a skeleton for a research proposal to be submitted to the EU RTD Commission in Brussels. The first workshop was held still in the plenary forum and was devoted to the reproduction of the BFT. It was done as a demonstration and guideline to the other workshops, since a proposal in this field was submitted and approved by Brussels at the time. We had four workshops on the following subjects: 1. Socio-economics and environmental aspects of farming the BFT. 2. Larval and juvenile production of the BFT 3. Husbandry and nutrition of BFT farming 4. Engineering aspects of BFT farming. Short summaries of the above workshops can be found in the proceedings. The closing session of the conference was devoted to drawing a set of resolutions and adopting them by the plenary forum. These resolutions are aimed at increasing the awareness of the public, the different governments and the EU Community and its administration prospects of domestication the BFT and what it involves. The amended resolutions are attached to this chapter of the proceedings. We hope that the DOTT Conference has initiated a campaign, which will, eventually bring about the farming and restocking of the Bluefin Tuna. A worthwhile campaign, which will come to fruition in the next decade or two. On Behalf of the Steering Committee I want to thank a couple of funding institutions and a few key people that without their efforts and hard work this event would have stayed as an unrealised dream: The EU Commission for funding the DOTT conference, The Marine Policy Centre of Woods Hole Institution of Oceanography, Woods Hole, Mass., USA My colleagues, who became friends, on the Steering Committee: Antonio Garcia and, the Spanish National Coordinator and Fernando de la Gandara both from IEO, Mazarron, without whom this meeting could not have happened. Prof. Christopher Bridges from the Univ. of Düsseldorf, who tirelessly was my anchor to sanity all along the last two and a half years. Prof. Gregorio DeMetrio from the Univ. of Bari who hosted the first meeting of the, would be, Steering Committee in 1999. Prof. Joaquin Roca, from the hosting Polytechnic Univ. of Cartagena who put a lot of effort into realizing the meeting. Drs. Antonio Medina and Gabriel Mourente from the Univ. of Cadiz who were the first recruits to the DOTT crusade ever since 1998. Gines Mendez, Atunes de Mazarron, the President of ASETUN, who hosted us and encouraged our activities all along. François Rene and Christian Fauvel from IFREMER, Palavas, France, who tirelessly helped in ideas, lobbying and organization on the French side of the border. Zarko Peric from Malta who came late to the Steering committee but contributed a lot to our rational. Dr. Constantinos Mylonas from IMBC, Crete, Greece who came on board strong and creative and last but not least, David De Monbrison from CEASM, Paris, France, who all along pointed out the political, social, economics and environmental issues involved it the DOTT. Our host, the Polytechnic Univ. of Cartagena and its president Prof. Juan Ramón Medina Precioso, and the vice President Prof. Antonio Garcia Sánchez. Antonio Belmonte who arranged all details of the visits to the farms and packing plants And to Isabel Belizon from ESLABON who helped organized the Meeting Many other people who lent a supportive hand during the long period of preparation for the meeting, which the space is too small to mention them all. Hillel Gordin DOTT Coordinator May 2002