Breeding Southern Bluefin Tuna | Australia with Simon Reeve | BBC

what is it you're doing here we're developing new technology it's costing a lot of money to get it going so we try to restrict access to it and that's why it's no windows dr. Craig foster has worked at the cutting edge of the fisheries industry for 20 years the fishing here costs us multi-millions to get in here and we look after them 12 months the 365 days 24 hours a day and I don't want to take any chances in losing taste of being somewhere where you shouldn't obey ok this is our fruit stock tank it's huge you get a better view from up here massive the size of them these fish they're about 150 kilo they're fat as long as you and me the technology Craig's team are developing could mean that one day wild southern bluefin tuna no longer need to be fished from our oceans they're trying to breed the tuna but it's not as easy as you might think this tank is all about reliably producing eggs to enables to produce juveniles why is it so hard to get them to breed in this sort of situation well because the reality is is very little known about it these tuna of temperature spawners so then they're major breeding cycle is governed by temperature naturally they spawn in the Java Sea about 27 degrees in the wild tuna only breed after they migrate thousands of miles to recreate those conditions this state-of-the-art facility mimics the daylight moonlights and water temperatures that they'd encounter on that epic journey around Australia to the Java Sea so are you businessman business people or you conservationists or better both then we're not doing this as a conservation project there is a declining supply of tuna with declining supply becomes increasing prices so there's an opportunity to support that supply and take the pressure off the wild fishery by producing it in a farm manner hopefully if we can succeed then we will take pressure off fishing stocks and the world will go on as we would have founded years ago southern bluefin tuna have been successfully spawned at this research center the first time ever in captivity but that's only the first stage now you probably need your glasses on for this but these are tuna rings Goldust killer and those things will grow into our fish very rapidly hatch within 30 hours but if all the tuna in here were to grow to full size and be sold on to a market in Japan let's say that could be 200-300 thousand pounds of fish correct and I'd be a happy person if they can raise tuna to full size they may be able to change how we fish our oceans and help save the southern bluefin tuna of course it is sad to see such magnificent creatures being held captive like this and farmed but we've been doing the same to cattle for thousands of years and at the moment the human population of the planet is increasing by tens of millions every year we're emptying our oceans of fish maybe fish farming aquaculture can play a role in finding a solution which feeds humans but protects life in our seas you

Channel: BBC Studios

Views: 1,478,767

Keywords: Simon Reeve (Author), breeding bluefin tuna, breeding bluefin tuna in captivity australia, breeding tuna, breeding tuna in captivity, austrailia with simon reeve, austrailia, bbc australia, australia with simon reeve, bbc studios, bbc studio, bbc worldwide, bbc

Id: mHiXsmM-y9c

Length: 4min 3sec (243 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 07 2014