At present, turbot (Scophthalmus maximus / Psetta maxima) is one of the marine fish species experiencing the highest levels of aquaculture production growth in Europe. Turbot is produced in Europe in the Channel Islands, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal, with a total production estimated at 75,598 tonnes in 2011 (FAO, 2013). Turbot production in Portugal began during the 1990s and has increased steadily ever since.

1. I N C O R P O R AT I N G
f i s h far m ing t e c h no l og y
January | February 2014
Production of farmed turbot and Senegalese
sole in Portugal
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3. FEATURE
Production of farmed turbot
and Senegalese sole in Portugal
by António Gouveia, associate professor, Department of Biology, University of Porto and CIIMAR
– Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Marinha e Ambiental, Portugal
Figure 4
A
t present, turbot (Scophthalmus
maximus / Psetta maxima) is
one of the marine fish species
experiencing the highest levels of
aquaculture production growth in Europe.
Turbot is produced in Europe in the Channel
Islands, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain,
the United Kingdom and Portugal, with a
total production estimated at 75,598 tonnes
in 2011 (FAO, 2013). Turbot production in
Portugal began during the 1990s and has
increased steadily ever since.
Located at the tip of the Iberian
Peninsula and bordered by the North
Atlantic Ocean to the north and west,
Portugal is the most western country in
Europe. The Algarve region on the southeast coast also exhibits a strong influence
from the Mediterranean Ocean. Portugal
has a milder climate compared to the same
latitudes of the American Atlantic coast,
owing to the ameliorating effect of the Gulf
Stream current. On the north coast of Spain
the current bends towards the south, giving
rise to the Portuguese Current, ‘a broad,
slow, generally southward-flowing current
that extends from about 10 degrees west to
about 24 degrees west’ longitude (Bischof
et al., 2003).
Although Portugal is a small country with
only 88,700km2 area, its mainland stretches
along 780 km of the Atlantic coastline
(JNICT, 1990). In spite of its small area it has
two major climate systems. The north side
of Portugal is a colder, mountainous region
comprising most of the country’s rivers and
reservoirs more suitable for the production
of cold water species such as rainbow trout
and flatfish (turbot and Senegalese sole,
Solea senegalensis). The centre and especially the south of the country (the Alentejo
and Algarve regions) contain a drier, warmer plain, more suitable for production of
warmer water species due to the influence
of the Mediterranean Ocean. These include
European sea bass (Dicentrachus labrax),
Gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), Meagre
(Argyrosomus regius), Red porgy (Pagrus
pagrus) and White sea bream (Diplodus
sagrus).
Nowadays, the Algarve is the most
important Portuguese marine aquaculture
region, comprising 45 percent of national production (INE, 2011). Besides the
Portuguese mainland, Portugal also includes
the Azores archipelago (2,344 km2) and the
island of Madeira (796 km2), both located
in the Atlantic Ocean, 100 km and 660 km
from the West African coast, respectively
(JNICT, 1990). Madeira has a significant
on-growing marine fish production industry,
mainly farming Gilthead sea bream.
24 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | January-February 2014
Figure 1
Aquaculture expansion
Until 2009, turbot was produced in three
medium-sized intensive aquaculture units
located in the north and centre of Portugal
(see Figure 1) due to the region’s cold water
temperature throughout the year. In 2009
this changed for the better, as a Spanish
fishing company Pescanova began operations
in Mira in northern Portugal, with a 150
million Euro investment in a state-of-the-art
turbot farm, the world’s biggest. The facility
produced 4,000 tonnes in 2012, but when
full production capacity is reached this turbot

4. FEATURE
Figure 2
farm is bound to produce 7,000 tonnes
utilising an area of 57 hectares (see Figure 2).
Nevertheless, recent production problems
that have arisen have unfortunately compromised this turbot farm to attain full capacity
production already this year.
The Acuinova layout is a double row of
eight production units. Each production unit has
one juvenile pavilion and eight growth pavilions.
In the overhead shot of Figure 2, the juvenile
pavilions are coloured darker than the growth
pavilions. Each juvenile pavilion (see Figure 3)
has 30 40 m2 tanks for 10-100 g turbot, making
a total of 480 juvenile tanks, and each growth
pavilion in turn has 20 113 m2 growth tanks for
fish from 100 gr. to commercial size in a total
of 1,248 growth tanks (see Figure 4). At full
capacity it will create more than 200 direct and
600 indirect jobs.
Ten-gram juvenile turbot are brought
weekly from one of the Spanish company’s
turbot hatcheries to Acuinova Mira. Fish are
automatically and manually fed, up to twelve
times daily with juveniles and up to four times
daily in the grow-out phase, until they reach
the commercial size of 1-1.5 kg which may
last between 600 and 750 days. Acuinova
has two pumping stations, the water intake is
located 2.4 km offshore, each one equipped
with nine 250 kW pumps providing a 10.8 m3
per second water flow, enough to provide a
daily water supply for a city the size of Madrid.
Another Portuguese turbot farm,
Piscicultura do Rio Alto, located in Estela in
northern Portugal (see Figure 5), produced
turbot from 1993 to 2011, when it was
decided to abandon turbot production and
farm Senegalese sole instead. At present, this
aquaculture unit is undergoing major modifications after being bought this year by a Spanish
company (Sea8 Porto) to be converted into
a hatchery for Senegalese sole, which will
be grown in another unit in Portugal
recently acquired
for the purpose.
Beginning production
in 1997, the Aquacria
Piscícolas facility was
the third flatfish
unit constructed in
Portugal. This hightech flatfish farm is
located in Torreira in
the north of Portugal,
and is the only aquaculture facility in the
country operating
with shallow raceway
system technology
in conjunction with
a recirculation aquaculture system (RAS)
for the growth out
phase of Senegalese
sole production,
allowing the fish
farm to substantially
reduce its environmental impact (see
Figures 6, 7).
In 2011, during
the management of
its previous owners, the flatfish farm
began its expansion
policy, which was
already concluded.
Therefore, production of Senegalese
sole will be substantially increased, with
an output of 350-400
tonnes estimated for
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January-February 2014 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 25

5. FEATURE
Figure 5
the following year. The recirculation unit has
60 shallow raceways displayed in six double
rows of five store shallow raceways.
Nowadays, there is still a second turbot
farm in Portugal, the Stolt Sea Farm operated by Piscicultura SA. Located in Praia
da Tocha, central Portugal and belonging
to the Norwegian shipping and seafood
company Stolt-Nielsen, it began production
in 1992 and exports all its turbot output
within Europe. The farm has in total 113
circular tanks: six measuring 15 m2, 36 at
20 m2, 10 at 23 m2, 21 at 78 m2 and 40
circular tanks measuring at 144 m2. Ten
Figure 7
26 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | January-February 2014
Figure 6
gramme juvenile turbot imported from
Spain reaches its commercial size of 1.5 kg
in around two years.
Turbot production in Portugal has been
steadily increasing year-on-year since 1994
(FAO, 2013), and in 2012 4,351 tonnes
were produced (turbot farmer’s personal
communication). Portuguese turbot production is expected to rise even further this
year when Acuinova will reach its full production capacity of 7,000 tonnes per year.
In recent years another flatfish species, Senegalese sole, has become popular
among Portugal’s aquaculture producers.
Along with White sea bream and Meagre, it
is one of the most recent marine fish species to be introduced into the Portuguese
fish farming sector.
Besides Portugal, Senegalese sole is
mainly produced in France and Spain
with a production of around 235 tonnes
declared in 2011 (FAO, 2013). This flatfish
species began to be produced in Portugal
in 1997 by Aquaria Piscícolas, followed by
Piscicultura do Rio Alto in 2002 with great
success, especially for the former. As previously said, with both flatfish farms having
recently changed ownership, the latter is
currently engaged in major adaptations
to be converted into a Senegalese sole
hatchery, and the former is expanding its
production capacity for this species. For
these reasons, Senegalese sole production
is expected to increase to around 350400 tonnes next year.
Although some biological and technological constraints must obviously be
overcome, especially with Senegalese sole,
high-quality turbot and Senegalese sole
production are expected to significantly
increase in Portugal in the near future with
a small number of recently-renovated, hightechnology aquaculture units.

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January-February 2014 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 27
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