Volume 18 Issue 1
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
JAPAN – SPECIAL REPORT
RESTOCKING
The Bluefin Advantage:
Inside Kindai’s ground-breaking tuna hatcheries Bluefin tuna are known worldwide as a species on the brink. Endangered for years, they have been hunted to the verge of extinction and their numbers are declining catastrophically. However, aquaculture could offer a solution, and Japan’s Kindai University is leading the charge. BY BONNIE WAYCOTT
ocated in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, Kindai’s Oshima Station of Aquaculture Research Institute has been at the forefront of research into farm-raised Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) since 1970, when researchers started by catching small juveniles off the coast of Wakayama using set nets. In 2002, Kindai became first in the world to fully close the life-cycle on the species. “Back then, there were many challenges,” explains Professor Yoshifumi Sawada, director of the Oshima Station. “For example, bluefin have delicate scales and bruise easily, and they cannot open and shut their gill covers so they swim continuously to breathe with their mouths open.”
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IN THE BEGINNING
Broodstock are raised in ocean net pens until they reach around 1.5 meters long and weigh 80kg. When they spawn their fertilized eggs are gathered from the water surface and taken to the hatchery.
Kindai’s pioneering work has been attracting worldwide attention for years. The university’s method is fullcycle aquaculture; raising artificially hatched larvae to adults, collecting their eggs and hatching them to
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HATCHERY OPS...
Staffing it Right Behind every successful hatchery there are some fantastic staff. Here are five tips to help find them…..and keep them.
The program runs in conjunction with other mitigation measures such as electrofishing (pictured) that removes as many unwanted fish as possible before the monogender males are introduced.
Mono-gender males used to fight invasive brook trout in Idaho daho has a problem: In some areas, large populations of introduced brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are adversely affecting native species and the recreational fisheries that depend on them. So the Department of Fish and Game has begun a program with a goal of massively reducing – and preferably eradicating – these unwanted brook trout populations. Many anglers have complained that the introduction of brook trout – native to US eastern states but not to western ones like Idaho – had caused a severe decline in cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) populations in many parts of the state. To tackle the problem the agency is using 50-year old technology to generate mono-gender male fish (with YY-chromosomes) that can only produce male progeny. It’s hoped that such males released into the
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BY PHILIP NICKERSON
Publications Mail Agreement #40027115 Registration #9920
t is my experience that behind every successful hatchery or farm there are some fantastic staff, both in technical skills and devotion to livestock care. Without these folks, the industry would quickly collapse. However, hiring is one of the most costly things to get wrong. Estimates for poor hiring decisions range from 2.5x salary to 10x salary in hard costs. Soft costs such as the effects of poor workplace morale and productivity are estimated even higher. Think about that next time you offer to hire your neighbor’s best friend! Some positions (personal assistant) for example, have a 20% success rate in retaining a hiree for five years. How many of the employees at your facility have been there for more than five years?
RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO 4623 William Head Rd. Victoria BC V9C 3Y7 email: peter@capamara.com
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As hatcheries and RAS facilities increase in size, key people with knowledge and experience to ‘do it all’ are becoming rare. Good hiring practices and strong management skills will go a long way toward filling this gap. (HI File photo)