The bluefin tuna fish farm in the Ozaki district on Tsushima island in Nagasaki Prefecture, is one of many sprouting up around Japan in response to the lowering of international catch quotas for the prized fish. It is said that the calm water abruptly churns as the feeding frenzy starts among the 400 to 500 bluefin tuna splashing around in the fish preserve. Experts express that this year the harvest is expected to reach about 8,000 tons in 2009, double the figure for 2007.
Yasunori Takarabe, the head of a cooperative of seven fish farms in the Ozaki district, told that the farming operation has finally taken off, its money is not accumulating at home, but is rather swimming in those crawls. He added that anyone thinking about starting anew needs to take bold steps since about 100 million yen will be needed to sell 500 tuna in the third year.
According to Takarabe the clear waters in Tsushima are suited for farming. The other necessary conditions, such as a minimum water temperature of 13 degrees and a minimum depth of 20 meters, are also met. He also said that another favourable condition is that the yokowa fry swim from the southwest, carried by the Tsushima current.
Takarabe, 59, and his cooperative began farming bluefin tuna from 1999 and came up with the Toro no hana brand in 2002. It is told that in all of Japan, about 2,000 tons of bluefin tuna were shipped about five years ago. The figure is expected to grow to 8,000 tons in 2009. But farmed bluefin tuna still represents a small ratio of the total sold in Japan. In the peak years of 2005 and 2006, about 44,000 tons were consumed.
