Company

Oceanic Tuna Limited is a company based in Scotland that has developed a range of technologies and methodologies aimed at the successful land based commercial propagation of tuna. These technologies and methodologies are transferable to all tuna species, so whilst the initial research focused on Northern Bluefin, we also have projects planned for Albacore and Yellowfin.

Commercial fisheries are under increasing commercial pressure and most of them are on the verge of collapse. While experts may argue about the precise timeframe, they all agree that there will be a collapse if things are not changed. OTL does not want to see Bluefin Tuna go the way of the Newfoundland Cod, which provided allegedly "sustainable" commercial catches right up until the moment that the fishery finally collapsed.

These pressures are increasingly causing tuna to be caught earlier in their lifecycle, before they reach sexual maturity. As a result, the fish have no chance to reproduce, leading initially to a decline and eventually a sharper downward spiral in the population biomass. Commercial propagation of a species is seen as the most decisive way to change this situation, removing the need for and the impact of wild stock fishing. Taken together with the high value of the fish, these are the reasons that OTL has focused on and specialised in the Bluefin species.

Management Team

Alex Mühlhölzl
Managing Director

Gavin Watt
Financial Advisor (First Base Accountants)

Ramzi Arabi
Technical Consultant (Aqua Systems Ltd)

Dr Andrew Shinn
Aquaculture Consultant (Institute of Aquaculture,University of Stirling)

Hatchery Specialists

Our Research Partners

Technology and Methodology outline

Our operation is based on an artificial aquatic environment system that is designed to negate the damaging effects caused by "spooking", when tuna fingerlings become scared or frightened. The resulting impacts, commonly referred to as “walling”, are often fatal. Even where these collisions are not fatal, the result is almost always injury that causes the fish to die from stress or infection.

While others have tried to control this behaviour, the reality is that spooking is an endemic reaction of the fish to almost any threat, real or perceived. It stems from the behaviours needed to evade predators in the open ocean. There, tuna have no need to manoeuvre around mangroves or within reefs, just high speed to outrun the predator. As a result evolution has rendered the fingerlings' steering fins only a secondary consideration, only developing between days 100 and 180.

In a breeding tank, it is this lack of steering, combined with high speed that proves fatal, so our technology has been designed to counteract these effects. It is inevitable that tuna will spook, this will happen regardless of how carefully they are handled. However within our operating environment they are not injured and that is the key to our system. How we negate the walling effect is through a patented technology with a range of supporting technologies and methodologies. This information is not publicly available.