Tuesday, September 3, 2019

"The certificate that could kickstart a renaissance in tuna aquaculture in Europe"

As noted in 2013's "Single Tuna Sells for Record $1.76 Million in Sign of Prices to Come":
We've been on the Bluefin beat for a few years, links below....

So back to fishies. From The Fish Site, September 3, 2019:
The development of birth certificates that allow retailers and consumers to identify the origin of bluefin tuna could help resuscitate Europe's Atlantic bluefin tuna farming sector.

So claims Jonah van Beijnen, one of the world’s preeminent experts in tuna aquaculture, following international research coordinated by AZTI, which has enabled the development of an advanced tool to determine where Atlantic bluefin tuna specimens come from.

“Previously it has been hard to distinguish between tuna that have been caught in the wild and then fattened, and those that have been produced through closed cycle aquaculture,” reflects van Beijnen, author of The Closed Cycle Aquaculture of Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in Europe: current status, market perceptions and future potential.

“And, as a result, it’s been hard for closed cycle tuna farmers to achieve premium prices for their fish, despite the fact that it has been produced sustainably,” he explains.
It is, van Beijnen argues, because farmed tuna has struggled to differentiate itself from either wild-caught or ranched tuna that the fledgling closed-cycle tuna farming sector in Europe has all but vanished in recent years.

“In 2015, at the peak of the sector, around 50,000 bluefin tuna fingerlings were produced in closed cycle operations. But this has now almost disappeared, other than the remaining research project run by Spanish Institute of Oceanography in Mazaron,” he says.

Van Beijnen believes that, despite a lack of EU or national government support for building on the success of tuna aquaculture, the new tool could help to spark a renaissance in the sector....MUCH MORE
The record price for a single fish is now $3.1 million. set last January.
Previously:
June 2009 
Mitsubishi Tries a Corner in World's Bluefin Tuna Market 
I can't recall another attempted corner in an endangered species, usually the perps sell as soon as possible.
      Mitsubishi freezing fish to sell later as stock numbers plummet toward extinction 
July 2009 
How to Break a Market Corner: Breeding Breakthrough Helps Sushi Baron Create Sustainable Tuna
As a follow-up to "Mitsubishi Tries a Corner in World's Bluefin Tuna Market" comes news that may bring sorrow and sadness to Mitsubishi.
(and is reminiscent of a scene from January 1980*)....

...*In January 1980, as the Hunt Brothers were gunning the price of silver toward it's historic high, the CEO of one of the world's largest trading firms said "Those boys don't know what deep pockets are", rather an amazing statement when talking about billionaires.
Within 48 hours both U.S. silver futures exchanges had gone "Liquidation only", the corner was broken and the Hunt's had lost their fortunes.
I'll leave it to you to guess the CEO.
May 2010 
Sushi: "European Researchers Advance Toward Farming Endangered Bluefin Tuna"

Anyhoo,
I'll probably never again be able to do a tuna and/or provenance story without thinking of this:

....Izabella Kaminska's Alphaville post "Tuna blockchains and Chilean Seabass" back in 2016 was the first time I saw someone mention the pluses and minuses of using blockchain databases to keep track of animals, in that case fish.
I was so taken with her illustration for that post that I swiped it for December 2017's "Synthetic Rhino Horns Are Being Created to Flood Markets and Eradicate Poaching":

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/files/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-01-at-11.52.26.png
Whichever approach is best will soon be determined in the market as long as we keep uppermost in mind the cause of the slaughter of the big beasts: 
September 5, 2016
Blame Rhino Killings On Speculators
Last seen in 2018's:

"Blockchain Could Help Restaurants Make Sure the Seafood You Order Is Actually What Lands on Your Plate" 
I vaguely recall this story from a couple years ago. Something about cats and preventing diarrhea or something. It seemed to be one of the few uses of blockchain tech that actually made sense.
Take a look at this from Futurism and I'll see if I can find a post with felines and gastric distress....
*****
.... Ah yes. 2016's "All I Asked Was 'Is the Red Snapper Good Here?'" which first linked to a post by Izabella Kaminska at FT Alphaville, also illustrated by the now Chef d'Alphaville with what can only be considered a chef d'Ĺ“uvre of the kindergarten-primitivist school.