Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ABFT) Research

In collaboration with MAR, MFF has also played a major role in the European effort to develop sustainable technologies for the culture of the ABFT (Thunnus thynnus). Within the framework of the European Atlantic bluefin tuna projects, MFF was always at the forefront and present at the First International Symposium on Domestication of the Bluefin Tuna, Thunnus thynnus (DOTT) in Cartagena, Spain in February, 2002, where scientists from all over the world convened to create a strategy for research towards the domestication of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. The 2002 meeting created a consortium that carried out the REPRODOTT project 2004 – 2006) that was funded by the EU Fifth Framework Program, in which Maltese participation was limited to sampling of wild-caught Atlantic bluefin tuna. This project which had a total budget of €1.0 Million, produced viable larvae of ABFT and triggered the start of three funded projects on Atlantic Bluefin tuna propagation research.