South Korea will establish a bluefin tuna farming research centre in Jeju Province with the collaboration of government research institutes and private fishing groups
The National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI), Jeju Ocean and Fishery Institute and Gyeongsangnam-do Fisheries Resources Research Institute have reached an agreement to form a bluefin tuna farming research centre with five private companies.
According to the agreement, NFRDI will be responsible for overseeing the research centre’s operations while the two provincial research institutes will develop skills to produce tuna larvae and provide tuna fry for test farming.
The private companies will experiment with raising the tuna larvae at fish farms located in Jeju Province.
In 2014, NFRDI produced 19,000 tuna fry. In addition, the centre is raising around 200 bluefin tuna weighing 30 kg at its open sea farm.
Last year, Jeju Ocean and Fishery Institute produced tuna larvae with fertilised eggs imported from Malta and is currently raising 100 tuna fry in an onshore tank.
