ITALY
In the factory the mussels are cleaned, graded and packaged in nets for sale on the local markets.
grid and in April the growth season starts. After six months the mussels are removed from the collector ropes, sorted, and put in plastic socks and suspended from the long lines. Over the next 18 months the mussels can be removed, sorted, and returned to socks up to three times before they are finally harvested, cleaned, graded, and packaged, says Mr Panariti. Mussels from Taranto are characterised by a completely black and very rigid
shell. This has implications for the washing and grading process which is done by machine, and later, for the 10% of the production that is further processed. A firmshelled product is easier to process mechanically with less waste.
Oily ropes make good seed collectors The Delfino cooperative has 98,000 sq. m of surface in one
lagoon and 50,000 sq. m of surface in another. The lagoons are used for the collection of spat while the on-growing site has an area of 10,000 sq. m. The cooperative has entered into a collaboration with an olive oil producer from a neighbouring town, from whom they get ropes that have been used in the olive oil production, but are too worn out for further use. Because they are impregnated with small amounts of oil they float easily and are
Soc. Coop. DelďŹ no Via Galeso n. 76 74123 Taranto Italy Tel.: +39 328 8534681 (mobile) cosimopanariti74@gmail.com
therefore used to collect the mussel seed. The cooperative’s main markets for its mussels are in the neighbouring region of Calabria or locally in Taranto with usually only the juvenile mussels being exported to Spain or Greece. While the business with mussels and other bivalves is set to continue the cooperative is looking forward to the response to its application to the commune for an area in which to farm the shi drum.
Company Fact File mussels, and clams; Collection and export of mussel seed Product: Locally sourced or imported from Spain, Greece Markets: Mainly local; mussel seed exported to Spain and Greece
Owner: Cosimo Panariti Activity: Mussel farming; packaging and distributing
PIT Produttori Ittici Trevigiani produces fresh trout in a variety of sizes
Highly value-added products are the future The Italian ďŹ nďŹ sh farming industry cultures ďŹ sh in saltwater and freshwater. Freshwater production is dominated by the cultivation of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), with signiďŹ cantly smaller volumes of sturgeon, eel, and negligible quantities of other species (chars, other trout species, carp etc.). Trout farming is concentrated in the northern part of the country, primarily in the regions of Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino Alto Adige, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont, while a few farms can also be found in the Umbria and Marche regions in central Italy.
T
rout production in 2012 was almost 35,000 tonnes making Italy the biggest trout producer in the EU. France with 31,000 tonnes followed by Denmark with 21,000 were the other two major producers of rainbow trout in 2012.
www.eurofishmagazine.com
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High quality production of large fish In Italy many trout producers are farming relatively small volumes of fish, but focusing on low density, high quality, as well as, in some cases, the production of
large-sized specimens. One of the typical examples is the company PIT Produttori Ittici Trevigiani, a family-owned concern that has been farming trout since the start of the industry in the 50s and thus one of the earliest trout farmers in Italy. Originally
two entities, each belonging to a branch of the family, with separate operation, the company in 2008 merged all the fish farming activities into a single unit with two owners that managed the seven farming sites and two processing facilities. Eurofish Magazine 6 / 2014
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