Biography

Fernando de la Gándara, Graduated and PhD in Biology from the University of Murcia (Spain). 8 years of experience (1985-1992) in seabass/seabrem aquaculture in private companies and research institutions. Technical assistant in IEO in the demersal assessment fisheries (1992-1996) and studies on Seriola dumerili metabolism (1996-2001). President of the Spanish Aquaculture Society in 2006/7. 25 years of experience in Thunnus thynnus aquaculture and farming research, in the following Projects: “Development of techniques for electro‐stunning and electroslaughtering in the tuna farming industry, (ELECTROTUNA) PEITT‐UPCT‐2000, 2000‐2001”. Domestication of Thunnus thynnus, the Blue Fin Tuna. Strategies for European Development in the Context of a Global Market (DOTT) (Q5AM‐2001‐ 00063), UE (FP5‐QoL)”. “Development of a Visual Automatic Inspection System for the control of quality of the meat and improvement of the electroslaughtering of the Bluefin tuna (SIVATUN), Murcia Gov. Spain, 2002‐2004”. “Domestication of Thunnus thynnus, the bluefin tuna, A Feasibility Study on its Reproduction in captivity (REPRODOTT), EU, Q5RS‐2002‐01355, 2003‐2005. In 2006‐2007 he participated in “Developing techniques to capture and adapt to captivity bluefin tuna juveniles in Murcia, SE Spain (Projects ADAR‐AJAR)”. General Coordinator of the “EU SELFDOTT project: Self sustained Aquaculture and Domestication of Thunnus thynnus, the Bluefin tuna (KBBE‐2007‐1‐2‐09), 2008‐2011”. Also he participated on several projects devoted to improve the techniques for producing bluefin tuna juveniles “TCAR ‐ Caladeros and MALT – Skretting”, for comparing the larval development in the wild and in the culture conditions “ATAME, funded by Spanish National Programme” and for “Assessing the effect of the sea aerogenerators in the bluefin tuna behaviour and migrations (AZIMUT)”, “NUTRITUNA‐IEO, Optimization of the bluefin tuna larvae and juveniles production (Spanish R+D+I Plan)”, AQUAculture infrastructures for EXCELlence in European fish research towards 2020 (AQUAEXCEL 2020, now 3.0) project, in “Climate change and European aquatic RESources (CERES)”, both cofounded by the EU H2020, and in “Atlantic Bluefin tuna Aquaculture; closing the life cycle and improvement of the culture conditions with special reference of more healthy ongrowing (PARACIEN) funded by the Nat. Prog. Research Aimed at the Challenges of Society RTC‐2016‐5835‐2”. Coordinator of “Bluefin tuna biomass measurement systems in transfers by means of acoustic techniques” (BIACOP) (European Commission Decision for Fisheries Control ES/13/41)”, High economic and growth aquatic species culture: bluefin tuna (NEWSPEC-MURCIA, FEMP funds) and “Create a sustainable tuna industry – huge potential for EU (NEXTUNA, EIT Food). He participated in the research contract: Improvement of bluefin tuna larval rearing by using Acartia tonsa (CLARA) funded by the Company Fortuna Mare S.L., in Cycle closure and improvement of culture conditions with special reference to fattening healthier tuna, RTC-2016-5835-2 "(EU H2020), " Bluefin tuna biomass estimation: combination of techniques biometric by image processing and characterization as an acoustic scatterer ” (ACUSTUNA), “Acoustic techniques for monitoring the growth of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in tanks ” (TAMOCART) and “Aquaculture infrastructures for excellence in european fish research 3.0”( AQUAEXCEL3.0). Nowadays, he is coordinating the project “Plan complementario de I+D+I en Ciencias Marinas” (THINKINAZUL)” funded by NextGeneration European funds. He authored or co‐authored over 30 papers in books and peer‐reviewed journals and more than one hundred communications to conferences and symposiums. Director of Murcia Oceanographic Center (IEO) since February 2015 and the Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure for the bluefin tuna aquaculture (ICTS-ICAR) since November 2018 up to November 2024. Leader of the research group CARES: Biology and aquaculture of the Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) and similar species.