IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i4p2976-d1060040.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Overview of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Farming Sustainability in the Mediterranean with Special Regards to the Republic of Croatia

Author

Listed:
  • Gorana Jelić Mrčelić

    (Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Split, Ruđera Boškovića 37, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Vedrana Nerlović

    (Department of Marine Studies, University of Split, Ruđera Boškovića 37, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Merica Slišković

    (Faculty of Maritime Studies, University of Split, Ruđera Boškovića 37, 21000 Split, Croatia)

  • Ivana Zubak Čižmek

    (Department of Ecology, Agronomy and Aquaculture, University of Zadar, Trg kneza Višeslava 9, 23000 Zadar, Croatia)

Abstract

Atlantic bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus) is the most important tuna species in Mediterranean tuna fishery and a valuable commodity on the global fish market. Croatia is a pioneer in tuna farming in the Mediterranean and the only country that has the exclusive right to farm wild-caught juvenile tuna (8 to 30 kg). This paper identifies key challenges to the sustainability of current farming and fattening practices, primarily economic and environmental, and possible solutions to overcome these challenges. This paper analyses data on tuna catch and aquaculture production (FAO FishStatJ and EU-Eurostat database) and updates the latest literature on farming practices, production challenges related to biotechnical, economic and environmental issues, the market and current legislation in Croatia, as well as fattening in other Mediterranean countries. Tuna capture-based aquaculture is attractive to investors because it promises high returns, but the sustainability of intensive tuna farming and fattening is questionable and raises many ethical issues. Tuna farming and fattening relies on wild fish for stocking and feeding, and further expansion of tuna farming and fattening is limited by the size of wild tuna and small fish populations. To meet the growing global demand for tuna and to conserve wild tuna stocks, further investments are needed. The knowledge gained in Croatian tuna farming is valuable for future sustainable close-cycled tuna farming in the Mediterranean. Due to its good environmental status, the availability of small pelagic fish, the availability of a highly qualified and well-organised labour force, the good cooperation between producers and researchers, and the application of modern farming technologies, ABFT farmed in Croatia have high quality and a good reputation on the market. The main weakness of Croatian tuna farming is that the entire industry is dependent on the Japanese market, but this can be overcome by the possibility of product diversification for new markets, including the tourism industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Gorana Jelić Mrčelić & Vedrana Nerlović & Merica Slišković & Ivana Zubak Čižmek, 2023. "An Overview of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Farming Sustainability in the Mediterranean with Special Regards to the Republic of Croatia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:2976-:d:1060040
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/2976/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/2976/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sumaila, Ussif Rashid & Huang, Ling, 2012. "Managing Bluefin Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 502-511.
    2. Garibaldi, Luca, 2012. "The FAO global capture production database: A six-decade effort to catch the trend," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 760-768.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maria B. Forleo & Nadia Palmieri, 2023. "Environmental Attributes of Wild versus Farmed Tuna: Beliefs, Knowledge and Purchasing Choices of Italian Consumers of Canned Tuna," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-21, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Flückiger, Matthias & Ludwig, Markus, 2015. "Economic shocks in the fisheries sector and maritime piracy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 107-125.
    2. Stelios Rozakis & Athanasios Kampas, 2022. "An interactive multi-criteria approach to admit new members in international environmental agreements," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 3461-3487, September.
    3. Heffernan, Joseph Paul, 2014. "Dealing with Mediterranean bluefin tuna: A study in international environmental management," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(PA), pages 81-88.
    4. Peter W. Sorensen & Maria Lourdes D. Palomares, 2021. "Global Inland Capture and Culture Finfisheries Follow Different Trends When Evaluated by the Human Development Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-13, July.
    5. Moutopoulos, Dimitrios K. & Koutsikopoulos, Constantin, 2014. "Fishing strange data in national fisheries statistics of Greece," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 114-122.
    6. Pierre Desrochers & Vincent Geloso & Joanna Szurmak, 2021. "Care to Wager Again? An Appraisal of Paul Ehrlich's Counterbet Offer to Julian Simon, Part 1: Outcomes," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(2), pages 786-807, March.
    7. Aylin Ulman & Burak Çiçek & Ilkay Salihoglu & Antonis Petrou & Maria Patsalidou & Daniel Pauly & Dirk Zeller, 2015. "Unifying the catch data of a divided island: Cyprus’s marine fisheries catches, 1950–2010," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 801-821, August.
    8. Veronica Relano & Maria Lourdes Deng Palomares & Daniel Pauly, 2021. "Comparing the Performance of Four Very Large Marine Protected Areas with Different Levels of Protection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-18, August.
    9. Antonius Gagern & Jeroen van den Bergh & Ussif Rashid Sumaila, 2013. "Trade-Based Estimation of Bluefin Tuna Catches in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, 2005–2011," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-12, July.
    10. Andrés M. Cisneros‐Montemayor & Sarah Harper & Travis C. Tai, 2018. "The market and shadow value of informal fish catch: a framework and application to Panama," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(2), pages 83-92, May.
    11. Brendan S. Talwar & Edward J. Brooks & Debra L. Abercrombie & Brenda Anderson & Mark E. Bond & Annabelle M. L. Brooks & Demian D. Chapman & Gina M. Clementi & Candace Y. A. Fields & Jim Gelsleichter &, 2023. "Insights into the Relative Abundance, Life History, and Ecology of Oceanic Sharks in the Eastern Bahamas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-24, December.
    12. Veronica Relano & Tiffany Mak & Shelumiel Ortiz & Daniel Pauly, 2022. "Stakeholder Perceptions Can Distinguish ‘Paper Parks’ from Marine Protected Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-12, August.
    13. Anastasios Papadopoulos & Konstantinos Touloumis & Emmanouil Tziolas & Dimitrios Boulamatsis & Emmanouil Koutrakis, 2022. "Evaluation of Marine Recreational Fisheries and Their Relation to Sustainability of Fisheries Resources in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    14. Cui Liang & Daniel Pauly, 2017. "Fisheries impacts on China's coastal ecosystems: Unmasking a pervasive ‘fishing down’ effect," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, March.
    15. Shan Huang & Stewart M. Edie & Katie S. Collins & Nicholas M. A. Crouch & Kaustuv Roy & David Jablonski, 2023. "Diversity, distribution and intrinsic extinction vulnerability of exploited marine bivalves," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:2976-:d:1060040. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.