The Tuna fish farming commercially for meat is being drastically increased more like the common business nowadays, though there are several reasons also. One of the reasons is there are more profits in Tuna farming with less capital input and minimum care and management. The most important thing is its huge market with high demand throughout the year in reach countries.
Data from United Nations Comtrade, International Trade Center, in 2018 shows Thailand is the number one global tuna exporter with 535,612 tons, valued at about US$2.32 billion, followed by Spain, Taiwan, Ecuador, China, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, and Seychelles. Indonesia ranked ninth with 167,695 tons worth $710.11 million.
Tuna farming commercially or rearing tuna fish for meat is a very easy working and comfortable job. But not so easy, you have to care about in some important tasks such as selecting a high yielding variety of Tuna fish, as we know better output form better seed. As we informed for commercial purpose fish farming, Tuna is one of the most demanded, and important species of fish, which has great market potential in the international market. The image is from oceansentry.org.
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Species Of Tuna Fish
Tuna fish which is also called tunny, any of seven oceanic fishes, some very large, that constitute the genus Thunnus and are of great commercial value as food and in the world economy. They are referred to as mackerels and are identified with them in the Scombridae. Tunas vary considerably, both within and among species. Some of the important tuna fish species are Albacore tuna, Southern bluefin tuna, Bigeye tuna, Pacific bluefin tuna, Atlantic bluefin tuna, Blackfin tuna, Longtail tuna, Yellowfin tuna.
Health Benefits of Tuna Fish
Artificially farming tuna, a saltwater fish species, primarily grows in heavy water areas like oceans, bay, or dip big lake. It is one of the most demanded and contains important health benefits ingredients for humans. It has a big international market as one of the ideal replacement for red meat.
Tuna fish-meat contains highly important omega-3 fatty acids which usually reduces omega-6 fatty acids content and also control cholesterol level in the human body. The specialist says it very helpful for our heart health and its meat very helpful for blood regulation in the human body. Doctors always suggest taking tuna fish meat to lose weight and even also relieve obesity problem.
Essential vitamin containing tuna fish meat increases our energy level and boosting our immune system. It has also the ability to prevent growth or to kill the cancer cell in our body. Tuna fish meat is also helpful for few kinds of cancer such as breast cancer, colon cancer, etc. This meat generally contains Vitamin B, vitamin C, manganese, and Zinc content in higher levels which are very much important for the human body.
Sodium and potassium minerals are also found highly in tuna fish meat, which are much important for preventing us from many kidney diseases such as arthritis, gout, etc. Good doctors always say that, “Consuming tuna’s meat is also believed as the best home remedy for depression and stress problem”. These are not all tuna fish meat is consumed as a beneficial of giving relief from inflammation problem.
How To Start A New Tuna Fish Farming
Tuna fish farming commercially for meat is a very easy working job, a well-knowing saying is, “easy work needs more take care to success”. So it requires some special care to be taken like site selection, and seed collection, selecting a high yielding variety of Tuna fish is actually a very important task. But to implement a successful fish farming business you must have good management knowledge along with some required technical and maintaining the fish farm.
In the case of site selection, you must be careful about less weather affected area and a good transportation system. There is also needed to you good market research and finding out the potential market, local or international.
Tuna fish farming is generally happened in an open marine area,s not in the enclosed earthen pond like carp fish farming. These fish live only in marine habitat but not in freshwater as they can’t survive in freshwater. You also need a good stock of fish feed for feeding the large size fishes and to make sure you better profit.
Generally, commercial tuna fish farmer chooses bank of the see side or low deep see the area, and it requires fewer instruments and fewer amounts of feed.
1. Make a Plan
Making a plan is doubtlessly an important step for commercial tuna fish farming. A perfect plan is made up of a business model, an operational model, and a financial projection. Tuna fish farming is not as like fresh-water fish farming, so you need to learn the total farming procedures step by step. With the help of the modern aquaculture system and scientific knowledge, we are able to farm many wild fishes, even some of them are very big.
You also required to know the target market and potential market demand both local and international. Tuna fish farming somewhat depends on nature as the artificial habitant is constructed in the ocean. So perfect project plan is very much necessary for commercial tuna fish farming.
2. Site Selection
As a common fish farming, you don’t require an earthen pond or tank, even you can’t farm tuna fish by biofloc system. You need a suitable marine place where natural calamities are favorable and sound. A rational tuna fish farmer generally likes to consider a nearby bank of the ocean or low deep ocean area along with a good transportation system.
The most recommended places are Northeast Pacific (Japan and Taiwan Province of China, Canada, and the United States of America), Southeast Pacific (Chile and Spain), Eastern Pacific (Costa Rica, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Spain, Vanuatu, Venezuela (the Bolivarian Republic of) and the United States of America), Western Mediterranean (Tyrrhenian and Liguria Seas & Strait of Sicily).
For example, commercial tuna hatchery at San Diego, California is expected to play a pivotal role in efforts to start tuna farming in the United States or, for that matter, in North America. The image is from maruha-nichiro.com.
3. Construction Of Pond In Tuna Fish Farming
After selecting the appropriate site construct a pond with a strong fishnet in a round shape in the ocean. If you want to rear openly, then as we know that the tuna fish is also very excellent in fishing and may eat the young ones coming unexpectedly. The pond must be stronger so that it can’t wash away by the ocean current. Heavy fish net’s pond is favorable for tuna fish to grow happily and it is more comfortable for the growers.
This type of pond making requires less investment and fishes also feel a natural environment. Depending on the scale of the initial input, the size of the pond for commercial tuna farming varies from person to person for better tuna fish meat production.
4. Collecting Best Tuna Breed
There are numbers of tuna fish species in the ocean but all are not farmable. The most common species are bigeye, black skipjack, blackfin, bluefin (three species: Atlantic, Pacific, southern), bullet, frigate, kawakawa, little tunny, longtail, skipjack, slender, and yellowfin. All these tunas belong to the Thunnini tribe and it is one of the subgroups of the family Mackerel family (Scombridae) consisting of 16 species of fish that have a comparatively bigger size than the other fishes throughout the world.
Generally, Albacore tuna, Southern bluefin tuna, Bigeye tuna, Pacific bluefin tuna, Atlantic bluefin tuna, Blackfin tuna, Longtail tuna, Yellowfin tuna are selected for commercial tuna fish farming. So as a commercial tuna fish grower, you have to select the best breed you think for your tuna fish farming business.
5. Feeding Management
Feeding management plays a vital role in commercial tuna fish farming. It requires quality, fresh and nutritious food to ensure the growth and get better tuna fish along with maximum profit. Commercial tuna fish farming is a profitable fish farming business, and it is getting a revolutionary change as Africans are getting changes by catfish farming in tanks. Feed management and monitoring their growth ensure better fish meat.
At Present, readymade such foods for commercial tuna fish farming are easily available in the specialized market but not rare. But if anyone wants to minimize the initial input, he/she can also prepare such food/feed at home itself. For preparing nutritious tuna fish food, soybean seeds; maize/corn, essential minerals, vitamins, salts, and you can add earthworms, etc. are generally required for an expert fish grower.
High-quality fish food ensures more weight to the fish and better fish meat production as well. To make the fish healthy and better quality fish neat you have to follow the scientific rules and provide feed according to their need even feed multiples times throughout the day.
6. Water and Farm Management
If you farm in a big tank or pond the water should change in the pond water by timely for the better growth of fishes. You have to flow the water treatment policy. Very frequently check out the pH of water, water quality, presence of oxygen, and soil for better health fish. The normal pH value of pond water should be from 7.5 to 8.5 for the excellent growth rate of fishes.
In the case of the open pond, farm management is very difficult, as water current control is not in our hands. So it must need to take care of so that any poisoned water can’t enter the farming area.
Proper weight monitoring is another important task for better tuna fish and fish meat. It requires proper take care about diseases and there should not any entry of diseases into the farming area. Any diseases and hamper tuna fish farming a lot. It is also essential and also need of fresh, clean environment for the optimum fish production and to make maximum profit.
7. Harvesting In Tuna Fish Farming
Catching tuna fish is not like the conventional fish harvesting method. Generally, it is not happened by removing water from the pond but using fishnet. If it is in the ocean you can remove the water but using fishnet or if pond constructed by fishnet you can lift the fishnet easily. It is so easy and more comfortable task in fish farming. After catching the fish they send and transported it to the nearby local market for marketing, but make sure the market demand.
Generally tuna fishes take time to reach maturity or to marketing. Some species take comparatively more time like Pacific bluefin tunas that reaches maturity at approximately 5 years of age and can live up to 26 years, although the average lifespan is about 15 years.
Tuna fish can grow up to the weight of 35 to 40 kg. It is highly economical and healthy to consume and high medicinal value. It can be stored in cooled stores make the storage should be near to the farm.
