Robert Vassallo Agius, resource

manager aquaculture at the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences based in San Lucjan Tower in Marsaxlokk, speaks to Maria Giuliana Fenech about the advancements registered in the aquaculture industry and the prospects for the future

What was it that first drew you towards fish and what is your experience in the field?

At the University of Malta I read for a BSc. During my studies there was no particular topic which I was really into; however, when the time came for me to decide on a topic for my dissertation, I immediately decided to go for a project on aquaculture. By now, my interest was piqued and after graduation I embarked on a six-month diploma course on Prawn Propagation Techniques in Japan.

On my return to Malta I was employed at the National Aquaculture Centre of Malta for a period of two years where I supervised work carried out on gilthead sea bream and European sea bass in the then newly built pilot marine hatchery. After this I returned to Japan to further my studies and I obtained both my MSc and my PhD from Tokyo University of Fisheries in the field of broodstock nutrition.

In Japan I learnt to pull the ropes from professionals who are among the best in the world in this field. During my research there I learnt breeding techniques of large marine fish, i.e. 15 – 30 kilos. I should also mention that since Japan is on the same latitude as Malta, the same species of fish are found in both areas and my research is now applicable to the fish found in local waters.

While in Japan I gained experience working on various marine species of commercial importance, such as the striped jack Pseudocaranx dentex, amberjack Seriola dumerilii and yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata. Although I was based in Tokyo University of Fisheries, I spent three months a year gaining “hands on” practical experience at a research station of the Japan Sea Farming Association in a remote fishing village in Kochi in the west of Japan.

What is the history of aquaculture in Malta?

The pioneer of aquaculture in Malta is Professor Carmelo Agius who first set up the National Aquaculture Centre (NAC) at Fort San Lucjan in 1988. The primary aim was to initiate the development of fish farming as a new industrial activity in Malta. In 1992 the NAC developed its own marine hatchery to serve as a pilot project for commercial sale marine hatcheries. By 1994 the original target production of 400,000 sea bream fingerlings was reached. With an increase in investment and the improvement in hatchery technology, production reached about one million fingerlings per year between 1995 and 1997.

Malta’s annual aquaculture production increased dramatically during the 1990s from 60 tonnes in 1991 to a peak of 2,300 tonnes of sea bream and sea bass in 1999 through the operation of a number of farms. Due to the decreasing prices for these two species due to overproduction throughout the Mediterranean region, production dropped to around 800 tonnes in 2005 but is once again on the increase, currently at around 1,000 tonnes per year.

What processes take place at Fort San Lucjan?

Fort San Lucjan currently houses the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences which encompasses aquaculture and fisheries research, laboratories and an educational area with aquaria that display life under the sea. This falls within the Veterinary Affairs and Fisheries Division of the Rural Affairs and the Environment Ministry.

I am in charge of aquaculture research at Fort San Lucjan where I apply the principles and aquaculture methods that I practised in Japan. I work on the breeding and larval rearing of marine species, mainly the amberjack which is a species with great potential for the future of aquaculture in the Mediterranean.

Our main research project is the Amberjack Project, which involves research for the development of breeding and rearing the amberjack. This is a five-year project in collaboration with Malta Fishfarming Ltd, a local fish farm. The project started in 2006 and is already showing some very promising results with the production of 10,000 amberjack juveniles in 2007.

We are just starting our participation in a seventh Framework EU project known as SELFDOTT (SELF-sustaining aquaculture – Domestication of Thunnus thynnus) which is a follow-up project of the already successful REPRODOTT (Reproduction – Domestication of Thunnus thynnus). In this project, we are in partnership with another seven countries and we will carry out research towards the breeding of Bluefin tuna in captivity. For this three-year project, Malta will receive approx EUR330,000 from the EU and will be involved in wild sampling, broodstock rearing, broodstock nutrition, egg collection, larval transport and larval rearing.

Fort San Lucjan also houses a small scale marine hatchery where research for egg hatching and larval rearing is carried out. Various larval rearing techniques are tested and obviously the ones giving the best results are used. We are in collaboration with other foreign universities or companies to carry out trials on fish health and larval nutrition.

What does a marine hatchery involve?

The marine hatchery comprises of broodstock, live-food rooms, larval rooms and a nursery. Once the eggs are collected from broodstock, they are incubated in the larval room and once they hatch into larvae they are fed zooplankton that comes from the live-food room. When they are large enough, they are weaned onto dry feeds and transferred to the nursery. Once they reach 2 to 5 grammes, the fingerlings, as they are now called, are usually transferred to cages in the sea, where they are fed on commercial pellet feeds until they are large enough to be harvested. All fingerlings produced are for research purposes only and there is no commercial-scale production.

What do your day-to-day duties at the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences as an aquaculture consultant include?

My work generally involves making sure the hatchery runs smoothly as without a properly managed marine hatchery it will be impossible to carry out our research. This also involves the management of broodstock out in the sea cages and apart from our present sea bream and amberjack broodstock we will soon have Bluefin tuna broodstock to pamper as part of the new SELFDOTT project I mentioned earlier. We even carry out vaccination trials for an English company.

I am in constant correspondence with researchers in various European countries, Japan and Australia so there are always things to do. It is vital to attend meetings and conferences abroad and keep up to date with all the new research and follow up accordingly.

How do you reply to comments like “farmed fish is not healthy”, “fish farming pollutes the environment” and “fish farming is destroying the fishing industry”?

It is truly a misconception that farmed fish is unhealthy. Fish are fed EU approved feeds that do not contain antibiotics or chemicals. Farmed fish have a higher fat content to wild-caught fish as they are reared under captive conditions; however their fats are in the form of highly unsaturated fatty acids or omega 3 fatty acids that are beneficial to human health.

When it comes to pollution, it must be understood that it is our primary concern that the environment is clean as we want the fish to be reared in a clean environment.

If the sea is polluted the product will have an inferior quality and private companies spend thousands of Euros annually to confirm that their products are up to the highest standards as required by numerous EU directives. Apart from improved management, feed companies are also constantly carrying our research to improve feed products so that they are more highly digestible thus producing much less waste and less pollution.

With reference to whether fish farming is destroying the fishing industry, I think it is clear that production from the fishing industry is leveling off and the main fishing areas have reached their maximum potential, so they need to be managed and controlled properly. Despite all this, the global demand for aquatic food products is increasing so any production increases must come from aquaculture.