Balfego Bluefin Tuna


Thunnus thynnus

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About Bluefin Tuna

Buena Vista Seafood is committed to only sourcing Bluefin Tuna from sources who have demonstrably committed to full traceability, certified sustainability, rigorous science and consistent high quality.

Bluefin tuna must swim to breathe. They have an extremely fast metabolism and are highly predatory. The bigger Bluefins get, the bigger the fish they hunt. Younger Bluefins eat crustaceans, fish, and cephalopods. As they mature, they switch to a diet of herring, anchovies, sardines, bluefish, and mackerel.

Bluefin Tuna are adaptable to many environments and efficient hunters. When searching for prey, they are able to take water temperature, chlorophyll levels, and ocean currents into account. Whatever prey they are after, Bluefin will remain in waters that allow them to digest their food efficiently. This means that they will sometimes refrain from entering a bountiful hunting ground if they sense that the temperature difference is too taxing for their metabolism.

All types of Bluefin boast a highly advanced circulation system, also known as a counter-current heat exchange system. In a nutshell, veins with warm blood leaving the muscles are aligned right next to the colder incoming arteries, so that the heat is passed in a continuous loop. The heat stays in the muscle and never gets the chance to be sapped away in the gills.

Thanks to their feeding prowess, Bluefin can reach impressive sizes. 

  • Atlantic Bluefin is the biggest and can reach 2,000 pounds. 

  • Pacific Bluefin top out at around a thousand pounds. 

  • Southern Bluefin are the smallest, and can reach 570 pounds.

Bluefin meat can differentiate in color from deep rosy-red to light pink depending on its fat content.  Bluefin Tuna is primarily used exclusively in sashimi or sushi preparations, the fresh clean taste of sashimi quality red meat and the buttery taste and texture of the toro portions of the loin make this tuna one of the ultimate seafood experiences. 

Atlantic Bluefin: East/West

Sleek giants with blue and gray coloring, bluefin tuna are one of the largest fish in the ocean and can grow to weigh more than 1,000 pounds. Their bodies are muscular, and they have short pectoral fins compared to other tunas. They can sustain cold and warm temperatures and frequently dive to depths of 500 to 1,000 meters. 

Juvenile and adult bluefin tuna are opportunistic feeders (as are most predators), and their diet can include jellyfish and salps (a type of sea squirt), as well as demersal and sessile species such as octopus, crabs, and sponges. However, in general juveniles feed on crustaceans, fish, and cephalopods, while adults primarily feed on fish like herring, anchovy, sand lance, sardine, sprat, bluefish, and mackerel.

Atlantic Bluefin Tuna have two main stocks: western and eastern. Both are highly migratory, traversing the Atlantic Ocean at up to 55 mph, and often share the same feeding grounds. However, when the time comes to spawn, the eastern and western stocks go their separate ways. Research has shown that Bluefins always spawn in the same area that they themselves hatched in.  

Atlantic Bluefin’s reproductive capabilities are very impressive. Each Tuna can lay as many as 540 million eggs each spawning season. However, as Atlantic Bluefins have a lifespan of 20 years or more, they can spawn at as young as four years of age, but usually don’t spawn before the age of eight.

Success Story: Recovery of the Eastern Atlantic Bluefin

The eastern Atlantic Bluefin Tuna population is finally recovering. There are numbers showing that the western stock is starting to rebuild, too, but researchers are still skeptical as to how reliable this information is. The main reason for this is that the larger eastern stock often mingles with the western, which makes data processing difficult.

The Future

More than half a century of unregulated commercial fishing has put these incredible fish in jeopardy.  However, the efforts put in by the leading international conservation organizations have finally started to yield positive results. We are seeing a demonstrable rise in bluefin tuna population, and must applaud the years of research international marine scientists have put into their conservation. We must also realize that rebuilding the bluefin population will not take a year or two. It will take time, patience and conscious buying to ensure we stay the course.

Balfego works with the following groups and under the following guidelines

  • AENOR certified (UN accredited 3ed party)

  • B Corp

  • Selective catch - no tuna weighing less than 30 kg 

  • Selection of tuna that are 10 yrs old on average

  • ICCAT oversight: The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is a UN and FAO regional fisheries management organization responsible for the conservation of tuna. Its management policies are based on periodic reports on fishery statistics issued by the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS).

  • eBCD- electronic bluefin catch documents

  • Only licensed boats are allowed to catch tuna 

  • Only boats can only off load in licensed ports

  • ICCAT

  • Spanish Government oversight

  • Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC)

  • the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Instituto Español de Oceanografía, IEO)

  • the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries, IRTA)

  • University of Cádiz

Balfego story

Grup Balfegó has been fishing in the small village of L’Ametlla del Mar for five generations. The family run business is a leader in sustainability and environmental responsibility.  (Video below)

The Grup Balfego fish the wild bluefin tunas from the Balearic Sea, only after they’ve already migrated up from the Atlantic and laid their eggs. Their expert fishermen track down a school of tunas, and position an enormous net over them, driving the boat in a circle to capture them inside. However, instead of extracting the net from the water, the technique is to keep them alive and swimming, and as calm as possible until transfer to the transport pool.

The transport pool arrives by another boat and is attached to the purse seine ring. Professional divers with whistles that simulate dolphin radar enter the water and direct the tunas from the initial enclosure to the transport pool, and once one of the tunas crosses over, the rest follow suit. The entire process is recorded on video to ensure precision in tracking exactly how many animals are caught. Only minutes later the video footage is watched with official controllers on board, and the exact numbers are recorded. The documents are signed by inspectors and observers to ensure accuracy.

The boats travel at the slow pace of 1 knot per hour (about 2 km/h) to their destination. Here the tunas are transferred to a fixed pool, where they are held until harvest. Balfego tuna is only harvested to order.

At the beginning of the season, at the time of capture, the tuna are thin, lacking a fat reserve. Once they’ve settled into the new pools they’re fed a varied, natural diet of mackerel, sardines, and herring.

Because the initial capture happens just after the spawn, the tuna eat up to 4% of their body weight during the first few weeks in the sea farm.  They will stay a minimum of four months and up to one year, ultimately gaining 15 to 100% their body weight in total.

To get the product from sea to consumer, the tuna are hand picked by a specialist diver to check for weight and fat content. 

Grup Balfegó traces their tuna from the point when it’s first extracted from the wild. From the very beginning their origin, size, weight, documentation, and fat level are electronically recorded. When brought to market,  Balfegó tuna comes with a unique barcode that records the tuna’s complete history and statistics.

Information included on each tuna tag:

  • Fishing Season

  • Pen identification

  • ICCAT record number

  • Fishing area

  • Harvest date

  • Production method

  • Landing port

  • Gross weight at harvest

  • Size

  • Fat content

  • Customer

  • Format

  • Date of sale

  • Link to individual tuna’s microbiological analysis 

  • Link to a unique Quality Certificate

Balfego has one of the highest levels of control from the Spanish Management authority. This Bluefin fishery is one of the highest priorities to the Spanish fisheries managers. The Spanish Management authority reports catches directly to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), an inter-governmental fishery organization responsible for the conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and its adjacent seas. Based on the latest assessment in 2014, Atlantic Bluefin from the eastern Atlantic/ Mediterranean appears to be recovering. This is most likely due to the fishery management in place. 

ICCAT - providing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Oversight

Established in 1966, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is an intergovernmental organization responsible for the management and conservation of tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas.

Scientists participating in ICCAT carry out studies on biometry, fisheries ecology, and oceanography, focusing on the effects of fishing on tuna stock abundance. They also collect and analyze fisheries statistics which are relative to conditions of the management of resources. ICCAT is also involved in work on data for other fish species that are caught during tuna fishing ("bycatch" – principally sharks) in the Atlantic and surrounding area, and which are not investigated by another international fishery organization.

Based on scientific and other information, such as fishery statistics and stock assessments provided by members, each year the Commission decides on conservation and management measures aimed at maintaining target stocks at levels that permit the maximum sustainable catch for food and other purposes.

In an effort to step up conservation efforts, ICCAT adopted a draconic recovery plan for Atlantic bluefin tuna in the eastern portion of their range.  This led to the reduction of the total allowable catches from 27,500 in 2007 to 13,400 tons in 2014. Apart from reduced total allowable catches, the recovery plan also introduced strict monitoring, reporting, and control measures. Over the   years the plan seemed to produce results and recently earlier critics have welcomed the plan and the action undertaken by ICCAT.

In November 2012 Susan Lieberman, international policy director of Pew Environment Group stated that "It is encouraging that ICCAT listened to the recommendations of its own scientists and agreed to keep catch limits for bluefin tuna within their advice. This decision will give this depleted species a fighting chance to continue on the path to recovery after decades of overfishing and mismanagement". ]

In November 2013 Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean said: “WWF congratulates ICCAT member countries for sticking to science again this year regarding bluefin tuna quotas in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean. This is a good sign of the credibility of ICCAT. However, failure to address countries’ failure to comply with rules remains an issue of grave concern”.