The Valencian Government has authorised the first large bluefin tuna fattening farm in the region, off Pilar de la Horadada. The project uses an aquaculture concession approved in 2021 for gilthead sea bream and sea bass, but the Fisheries Directorate has now approved a change to Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus.

The facility will occupy 45 hectares of maritime-terrestrial public domain. Plans for 25 cages measuring 30 metres in diameter have been replaced by ten cages measuring 50 metres, with maximum annual production set at 2,550 tonnes. The farm will be located in open sea, about 4.4 nautical miles from the fishing port at San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia.

Piscifactorías del Mediterráneo, a company linked to the Ricardo Fuentes group, holds the concession. Bluefin tuna are caught alive during migration, transferred to transport cages and slowly towed to farms, where they spend several months being fed to increase their weight and fat content. Most production is exported to Japan.

The authorisation does not mean the farm will begin operating immediately. The project remains subject to construction notifications, a preliminary inspection and environmental conditions, including restrictions on placing cages over sensitive habitats. The published documents do not confirm that the original farm ever produced sea bream or sea bass.