Bluefin tuna meat. (Photo: Stock File)
Nissui to market fully farmed tuna by 2017
(JAPAN, 8/18/2016)
Nippon Suisan Kaisha (Nissui) announced that by winter 2017 it will market its bluefin tuna bred throughout the complete farming cycle, from the egg to adulthood.
The firm’s representatives also informed that the product will be sold through supermarkets and restaurants under the Kitsuna Gold Label brand name.
To reach this goal, the firm intends to increase the number of artificially hatched fingerlings so that it can increase shipping volumes in stages, to 10,000 fish (equivalent to 500 tonnes) in fiscal 2018 and 20,000 fish in fiscal 2019, The Japan Times reported.
Nissui began researching artificial hatching of bluefin tuna in 2007 and that its first generation was produced in 2011 but they succeeded in obtaining a second generation in 2014.
To overcome the issue of low fingerling survival rate, the company developed its own proprietary fingerling feed blend to facilitate survival.
Nissui is not the first enterprise to succeed in the potentially giant farming industry: Kindai University and Maruha Nichiro Corp. have already commercialized fully farmed bluefin tuna.
After succeeding in the full-farming of bluefin for the first time for a private company in 2010, Maruha Nichiro started shipments this year and intends to carry out direct seasonal tuna shipments to major supermarket chain Aeon Co.
The company is making efforts to sell tuna directly to restaurants both within and outside of Japan instead of through wholesale markets.
According to the Fisheries Agency’s resources management division, international regulations are set to be tightened on catching bluefin later in the year. As a result, demand is set to increase further for fully farmed bluefin, with competition expected to intensify.
Related article:
- Interest in bluefin farming grows
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