Many might not see it as being groundbreaking, but the Malta Centre for Fisheries Sciences has finally come up trumps with a breeding project.
The Centre has already come up with breeding programmes for sea bream and sea bass (awrat and spnott), but they have now come up with a new system that has allowed them to breed amberjacks (accjol) in captivity.
Some 10,000 fry were hatched recently and it has been hailed as a breakthrough as many other countries, including Cyprus, Israel, Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Libya have already tried without success.
Malta has managed to come up with a process that allows the hatching of this species of endemic fish which should help to boost declining population levels. Rightly so, the Centre and the relevant ministry are keeping their hands close to their chest at this stage as there could be commercial activities which arise from this development.
Malta has only recently started to foray into the realm of R&D. Unfortunately it took us a long time to get on the bandwagon and there are only one or two projects of note that have come to light. The fisheries related ones are definite successes, but the only other project of real note was the development of a battery powered motor launch.
At any rate, the discovery of this new system is a great success, especially noting how difficult it is to breed wild fish in captivity. The diversification of fish farming is equally impressive. As mentioned, Malta has now successfully bred three species of fish in captivity. This will allow for repopulating rapidly dwindling fish stocks. However, we should try and diversify as much as we can by putting as many different types of fish back into the sea as possible.
In addition Malta is set to receive EUR250,000 over three years as part of the Selfdott EU programme to repopulate tuna stocks. At present, tuna farming involves the catching of fish from the wild, fattening it up in pens and then exporting it, mostly to Japan, South Korea and the United States.
The programme aims to reach four objectives; building up of parenting stock, developing nutrition procedures for the stock and gathering samples of tuna eggs to be analysed and test transported to find a way to do so which will not damage them.
Another positive note is that the government has, through MEPA, obliged tuna penning firms to install extra nets in pens that will trap any bits of feed that are not eaten. This will protect the seabed and improve the quality of the seawater. Companies are also obliged to move their pens further out to sea. This will not only result in better protection of the environment, but also a better quality end product.
It seems that Malta really has taken up an active role in aquaculture and from a layman’s perspective, it does seem like everything we touch in this sphere seems to turn to gold. However, although research and development does feature an element of trial and error, we should press on. It seems we have the right conditions and the know-how. We also have the added benefit of old men’s knowledge, so it should all be used to maximum effect. The beauty of all this is that not only will we have the possibility to make a real contribution to the environment, but also to make commercial gain out of it.