Breeding bluefin tuna is a difficult task requiring precise conditions and timing. That’s why Bradley, a professor in URI’s Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Science, and Peter Mottur, a fisheries graduate (1991) and president of a Newport-based firm called Green Fins, are partnering in this project. They are starting off using the smaller, less demanding — so far as breeding is concerned — yellowfin tuna.
Bradley and Mottur plan to soon be off the North Carolina coast in Mottur’s 35-foot research vessel in quest of several 10- to 15-pound yellowfin tuna that they will bring to the Blount Lab tank. There they hope to see the fish spawn under controlled conditions.
The plan is to get the methodology down so they can proceed with the next step — build a bigger tank with bluefin tuna as tenants. The project is being funded by Green Fins, which signed on as a research partner with URI in January and has committed about $700,000 to this project.
The Coastal Institute has been charged with a review of a proposed public-private partnership with GreenFins LLC.
This site will host documents* regarding the proposed initiative until such time as a decision about the viability of the project is determined. Viability will be determined in light of the interests of the University of Rhode Island and its mission and solely reference that proposed relationship. The final decision is in no way to be construed as a judgment as to the overall viability of the GreenFins Initiative.
http://www.ci.uri.edu/Projects/GreenFinsReview/GreenFins_Review.html
*Documents will include those that do not involve confidential or proprietary information