Fishing

Coldiretti: Italy also farms offshore for tuna fattening

The proposal in Brussels: this is not a replica of the farms already existing in the Mediterranean, but tuna would be farmed differently, to obtain a leaner product more suitable for the European market

15 September 2025

2' min read

Italian fishermen can catch 5,283 tonnes of tuna each year. This is the quota currently reserved for our country by Iccat (the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas). Most of the catches (especially the purse seines, made by means of large nets that leave the fish in the water) are destined for large fixed nets placed mainly in Maltese (but also Spanish) waters.

Here tuna are fattened up and then destined for the international market. Japan in particular, although this is not as lucrative a market as it once was: the East likes particularly fatty meat, while on our tables the so-called 'running tuna' is more popular, such as the one caught on the hook or in the only two remaining tuna fisheries in Sardinia.

The project presented by Coldiretti Pesca at the European summit of the sector organised in Cetara, is to create farms for breeding bluefin tuna also in Italy, 'with the aim of guaranteeing consumers an increasingly traced, transparent and sustainable product, but also with new organoleptic characteristics, with the potential to open up new markets'.

The initiative will be illustrated today, 15 September, by President Ettore Prandini and Coldiretti Pesca national manager Daniela Borriello to EU Fisheries Commissioner Costas Kadis during a meeting in Brussels.

Today, most of the tuna caught in the Mediterranean by the Italian fleet is destined for Malta, where it is fattened and then processed. A phase of the chain - Coldiretti reasoned - that could be brought back to Italy, creating the conditions for national fishing companies to make the necessary investments.

However, this is not a replica of the already existing farms: "The fattening of tuna would take place in a different way, a 'light' fattening, almost a maintenance, that would generate a product closer to the Italian and European taste, able to attract new markets and potentially available all year round. There would then be a guarantee of systematic attention to the impact of production, processing, marketing, from cage materials to packaging,' explain Coldiretti.

Bluefin tuna farms could also involve other segments of the fishing fleet, which would support the plants and develop employment for the processing plants in the coastal communities concerned: 'an opportunity to strengthen employment prospects and create new ones'.

The project is also part of the transparency campaign started by Masaf with theobligatory seal on every bluefin tuna, to guarantee its origin, quality and wholesomeness, enhancing the work of the almost one hundred and seventy boats authorised to catch it, against the risks of unfair competition.

But at the Brussels meeting, Coldiretti Pesca will also express 'the need to enhance and support the entire fishing sector with adequate policies for its development, but also for its survival'. What is worrying is the budget proposal presented by the Von der Leyen Commission that would cut two-thirds of the funds allocated to the fishing sector, from 6.1 billion to just over 2 billion, a net loss of 67%.

Emiliano SgambatoResponsabile Food24
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Luogo: Milano
Lingue parlate: Inglese
Argomenti: Agroalimentare, mercato immobiliare, arredo-design
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