July 8, 2013 — For years the production of cobia (Rachycentron canadum), a fast-growing tropical marine species, has been expected to take off, but farmers in Asia have been switching to other finfish such as pompano.
A Taiwanese research paper suggested there was the potential to farm one million metric tons (MT) of cobia annually worldwide. However, according to a senior figure in the cobia farming industry, production peaked in 2006-2007 at 20,00 to 30,000 MT.
Production has since plummeted and in 2012 it was thought to have been less than 5,000 MT worldwide, perhaps even half that figure, so a near 90 percent reduction from its peak.
As reported in SeafoodSource, Marine Farms ASA, a Norwegian aquaculture specialist, invested more than USD 10 million (EUR 7.79 million) in developing a cobia farming operation in Vietnam and started to harvest the white-fleshed fish there in 2006-2007.
It was said to be the world’s largest cobia farm with the potential to produce 5,000 MT. However, production peaked at 1,200 MT in 2010 then steadily declined. The actual harvest of cobia last year was 335 MT, although Marine Harvest Vietnam also produced 700 MT of pompano.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com