WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2024 23 infrastructure and seawater system of the Laboratory were made during a collaborative project among the Overseas Fishery Cooperation Agency (OFCF) of Japan, the Government of the Republic of Panama and the IATTC. The joint research project was designed to study the reproductive biology and early life history of yellowfin tuna (YFT), by developing a spawning population and studying the egg, larval and juvenile stages in the laboratory (Margulies et al. 2007 b). In 1996, the first capture, transport, and stocking of YFT took place, and since then, the main broodstock tank of the Achotines Laboratory has never been emptied or without broodstock fish. The YFT is broadly distributed in tropical and subtropical waters of the world and absent only in the Mediterranean Sea (Margulies et al. 2001). Nowadays, landings of YFT represent 20 percent of total tuna landings and, coupled with skipjack tuna fisheries, account for more than 75 percent of total tuna end value (FAO 2022, PEW 2020). YFT is a diverse fish, being used in the canning industry, sold fresh, and well accepted in the sushi and sashimi markets. Interest in research with YFT for management and conservation has also led to the development of culture techniques for this species, confirming that YFT is an ideal candidate for aquaculture. The Achotines Laboratory is equipped with a full complement of life-support systems for the study of marine fish species, and its infrastructure is comprised of different sectors to support algae and live feed, incubation of eggs, experimental larval rearing, experimental juvenile production and broodstock maintenance. The broodstock building (a 1300 m2 roofed, open-walled building) has 6 concrete tanks of different volume, of which 3 are configured as recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS), and 3 are flow-through systems. The main broodstock tank (T1) (Figure 2) is an RAS with 1362 m3 volume, 17 m in diameter and 6 m deep (Wexler et al. 2003) and has held more than 350 broodstock YFT in sequential groups that have continuously spawned over the past 28 years (Buchalla et al. In Press). After the focus of research at Achotines Laboratory switched the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). Currently, the IATTC has 21 member countries and 4 cooperating non-members, whose delegates work closely with IATTC’s scientific staff to address proper management of fisheries resources. The Achotines Laboratory of the IATTC (Figure 1) was established as a research facility in 1984, in the Republic of Panama, to support biological and ecological research on lifehistory and reproductive biology of tropical tunas, with the goal of building an understanding of the mechanisms that control pre-recruitment survival of tunas. After nearly 40 years of continuous research, the Achotines Laboratory has become the heart of the IATTC’s Early Life History Group (ELHG) research and is recognized as one of the premier tuna research facilities in the world. A Tropical Research Center The Achotines Laboratory is located on the southern coast of the Azuero Peninsula in the Los Santos Province of the Republic of Panama. The facility has ready access to oceanic waters (the continental shelf is quite narrow and ocean depths of 200 m occur only 6 to 10 km from shore). This allows scientists to have access to waters where spawning of tunas occurs during most months of the year. The Achotines Laboratory has had two main research phases. The first phase of research focused on studying predominantly coastal tropical tuna species, such as black skipjack (Euthynnus lineatus), bullet and/or frigate tunas (Auxis spp), sierra (Scomberomorus sierra), and striped bonito (Sarda orientalis). From 1984 to 1995, field surveys and collection at-sea of larvae and juveniles of the aforementioned species took place, as well as laboratory experiments that investigated their growth, nutrition, and physiology (Lauth and Olsen 1996, Olson and Scholey 1990, Margulies 1993, Wexler 1993). In this period, the lifecycle of black skipjack tuna was completed in captivity, and a spawning population was developed in a land-based soft-walled tank (38 m3 volume), where the fish spawned almost daily for 2 years (Margulies et al. 2007a), representing the first spawning of a tuna species in a landbased facility. The second phase of research at the Achotines Laboratory took place after 1993, when expansion and improvements of the (CONTINUED ON PAGE 24) FIGURE 2. YFT broodstock in T1. FIGURE 3. Studies developed at the Achotines Laboratory. The Achotines Laboratory is located on the southern coast of the Azuero Peninsula in the Los Santos Province of the Republic of Panama. The facility has ready access to oceanic waters (the continental shelf is quite narrow and ocean depths of 200 m occur only 6 to 10 km from shore). This allows scientists to have access to waters where spawning of tunas occurs during most months of the year.
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