Salobreña Fish Pens Are Back

SAL fishfarmWe ran an article back in 2013 about an attempt to get the Salobreña fish farm back up and running – it was not to be… but it looks like things are set to change.

After laying almost two years abandoned, two large fish pens have appeared, much larger than the original ones. Three more are to be added.

The new pens, which are some 50 metres in diametre, are not designed to churn out fish in mass but to to integrate multi-trophic aquaculture.

Great! So what’s that? Wikipedia explains it thus:

It provides the by-products, including waste, from one aquatic species as inputs (fertilizers, food) for another. Farmers combine fed aquaculture (e.g., fish, shrimp) with inorganic extractive (e.g., seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g., shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for improved output, lower cost, product diversification

What’s almost most important, it socially more acceptable because it is more compatible with nearby beach use. China and Canada are big fans of this system, which is a contained bio-system almost.

Biologist, José Juan Nogales, explained that to start with they’ll only be breeding mussels, although other shellfish types will be added.

The biomass created by these creatures, will be consumed by sea cucumbers, which although not exactly very popular in Spain, are well appreciated in China and other Far Eastern countries.

Soon after, other creatures such as sea-urchins and octopus can be added.

After that, six pens of the old specifications will be added (19m diametre). The 50-metre pens will be divided into an inner (38m diametre) section for fish breeding and the other ring for mussels.

Marine biologist, Nogales says that they should be able to start operations by next year and when the whole thing is up and running they could be producing between 800 and 1,000 tonnes of fish and 200 tonnes of mussels.

Let’s hope that they have better luck than previous attempts, eh?

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Fish Farming Struggles On

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *