This ICTS, attached to the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, is a research infrastructure consisting of mariculture facilities located in the region of Murcia, dedicated to the development of techniques for the reproduction of bluefin tuna in captivity and the production of juvenile bluefin tuna.
This infrastructure has the following facilities for breeding, hatching, larval rearing, weaning and pre-fattening of bluefin tuna:
- Breeding control facility: four tanks with a total volume of about 7000 m3; two tanks of 20 and 22 m3 in diameter and 10 m deep, each able to hold approximately 30 tuna of about 60 kg initial weight, and two other tanks of 14 m and 8 m in diameter. The facility also features photoperiod and temperature control.
- Egg incubation unit: 12 tanks of 500 l capacity and 50 tanks of 100 l with light and temperature control.
- Rearing unit: 7 x 5000 l and 18 x 1000 l tanks, two experimental modules with a total of 39 circular 170 l tanks; the mesocosm unit for larval rearing consists of two 45,000 l tanks and the culture facility for phytoplankton, rotifers, artemia and copepods. All the tanks are equipped with water treatment systems, and the experimental units are also equipped with recirculation systems.
- Weaning facility: one 100,000 l cylindrical tank, four 50,000 l tanks and four 20,000 l tanks with associated recirculation and water treatment systems.
