ITALY
Controlling quality with care
Farming seabass and seabream in Italy Marco Gilmozzi is working with history and nature to produce ďŹ ne ďŹ sh. Using only the best raw materials and respecting environmental sustainability, the cooperative that he heads has developed internal standards that guarantee a quality product. Fish “Made in Tuscanyâ€? are valued highly in Italy and abroad.
M
arco Gilmozzi is President and CEO of Cosa SocietĂ Agricola a r.l., which is part of the Coopam group. Coopam was established in 1998 by fish farmers in Orbetello commune and distributes seabass, seabream, and meagre farmed by its associates and partners. The Coopam group employs nearly 70 people. Cosa employs 22 people on the farm and an additional 10 in the processing plant. Cosa SocietĂ Agricola was founded in 1976, and Gilmozzi arrived in 1983. The company produces fish in ponds, but the Coopam group also has a cage farm, where it is testing this kind of farming. The company has 53 large ponds and 20 that are used as on growing units. The cooperative sells their fish everywhere, using the same label. Today, Cosa is a medium-sized player in the field but, at least for the Italian market, they are an important player, and sell more or less everywhere in the country. Their product is considered the best farmed fish that you can buy, although they never invest one euro in promotions.
Harking back to Roman times Marco Gilmozzi is picking up where the ancient Etruscans and Romans left off, fish farming near the 2,700 hectare Orbetello www.eurofishmagazine.com
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lagoon. According to Gilmozzi, it is probably one of the most productive lagoons in Europe. Fishermen take more than 200 kilo per hectare annually. It was the same in past centuries. Romans came here to eat the excellent fish. So the name of Orbetello has been connected with fish for centuries. He points out that today’s fish farms are not exactly the same as those in Roman times. From the first century BC until the end of the first century AD, fishponds enjoyed their greatest popularity as displays of conspicuous wealth. The rich located their fishponds adjacent to their villas, in seaside coves or lagoons. These coastal enclosures were costly and often elaborate. In addition to being enjoyed locally, the fish were sent to the Roman market, approximately 140 km away.
have 11 wells, and four of them have the same salinity. All of the others are very close in salinity�. He cites a study conducted in cooperation with the region of Tuscany, which demonstrated that the water has remained sealed in an aquifer for a long period. It is known as fossil water. Using a special radioactive value, the study determined that it has remained underground at least 50 years at least. The high temperature means that the water goes very deep and returns close to the surface, about two or three metres below the surface. In summer, if the turnover of the water is poor, temperatures in the pools
Marco Gilmozzi, President and CEO of Cosa, a producer of seabass and seabream.
Special waters run deep “Our water is something special�, says Gilmozzi. “It has the same source as the ancient Romans used 2,000 years ago. Depending on the area, the water comes naturally from the ground at between 22 and 25 degrees Celsius. The temperature is optimum for bass and bream. It has more or less the same salinity as Mediterranean seawater and is absolutely clean. The water is free of farm run-off and industrial pollution. In this farm, we
The water on the farm is pumped from a depth of 2-3 m. Tests have shown it has been underground for at least 50 years and it is completely free of pathogens. Eurofish Magazine 6 / 2014
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