UK's first commercial tuna farm

Scientists from Stirling and Strathclyde are studying ways of breeding and harvesting tuna on a commercial scale to meet the high demand for the fish.

In the £250,000 pilot European Fisheries Fund project, based at the Ardtoe marine laboratory in Fort William, they will try to breed a tuna that is common in UK waters. If successful, the first farm could open by 2011.

Alex Muhlholzl, managing director of Oceanic Tuna Ltd, which is leading the project, believes the demand for sustainable tuna is huge, and said that breeding the fish on a commercial scale is the holy grail. However, there are still production issues to overcome:

“But we need to deal with a whole range of issues such as mortalities, cleaning the tanks and ensuring the welfare of the fish,” he said.

“We’ve decided to base this in Scotland because the calibre of expertise here is phenomenal.

“This would be something new for the aquaculture industry in Scotland. We are looking to develop a commercial industry here,” he added.