Rough seas destroy fish farm

[Jonathan]

A gale force wind and rough seas wreaked havoc yesterday, destroying a tuna farm holding €7.4 million worth of fish.
Four cages used to harvest about 600 tonnes of tuna were completely destroyed by Force 6 winds. By yesterday afternoon they had drifted up to one mile away from their moorings.
The farm, situated five miles out at sea to the east of Valletta, belongs to Ta' Mattew Fish Farms Ltd.
Owner Ray Bugeja said most of the fish escaped or died.
Speaking to The Times from his boat, Mr Bugeja said five fishing vessels were out at sea trying to salvage what remained of the stock but the bad weather hampered their efforts.
"Most of the tuna is either dead or have escaped out to sea. At this year's market prices we estimate to have lost €7.4 million," Mr Bugeja said.
The damage was reported yesterday afternoon when it was noticed that cages were damaged and the moorings had snapped. The whole fish farm drifted from its position and the owners had to inform Valletta Port Control to urge caution from ships that might sail through the area.
"It will take us days to lift the anchors and repair some of the damage caused. We have five boats out at sea but it is not easy to work in gale force winds," Mr Bugeja said, adding no one was injured in the incident.

Taken from http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091221/local/rough-seas-destroy-fish-farms-7-4m-stock

[Jonathan]

I would imagine that the fishfarms would be insured and insurance would pay up for the losses incurred.

What is a pity is that it is stated that most of the tuna died... that would make this a colossal waste & loss of fish from a species whose numbers are dwindling down so much so that there has been a lot of talk recently that it is possibly being driven into extinction 

[SPITEC]

Would have been better if they were awrat!

[twoutes]

Unfortunately l missed out on visiting the tuna farms while visiting Malta a couple of years ago.
Does anyone here know if the tuna are raised from hatchlings, or are they caught in the wild and bought into the pens to raise to market size?
Also, which species of tuna? l'm guessing Blue fin?

There is lots of discussion here about raising tuna in pens, as all the bait stock (mackerel yakkas etc)  is now being targeted from the seas to feed them.

[MartinB]

No mate they catch (net) the tuna (yep your right Blue fin!) as juveniles and are fattened up in the tuna pens.
Saw this article recently about tuna fish farming
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091206/BIZ/912060304

[twoutes]

Thanks for the link..very interesting

[Granitu]

there is no insurance since it is an act of god jonathan...

and hatching of blue fin tuna is not possible to date, scientists can't yet figure out consistently how to do it.

[robby017]

but it won't be long............ if i'm not mistaken, they managed with amberjack already....

[Jonathan]

@Granitu
I was told that this "act of God" disclaimer does not really exist in any contract.
What is an act of god and what isn't?? Exclusions in insurance contract are more specific and in most cases, one can also negotiate with the insurer what risks to insure and what not to insure. Perhaps if there's someone reading this who works in insurance, he can clarifyt his matter better

[ciappinu]

Seems like only 10% died. But as Twoutes said, another pity is the bait fish fed to these monsters. I have seen a barge carrying tons of baitfish, to give you an idea of the quantity, more than a truck load. Tuna are fattened at an accelerated rate as obviosly in the wild they don't always find such an easy meal.