Bari, Italy  - Researchers in Italy have made a scientific breakthrough with regard to farming the highly-sought red tuna which is threatened with extinction, an Italian news agency reported Friday.

For the first time in the world, scientists at Bari University in the southern region of Puglia have cultivated the larvae or eggs that may make it possible to farm red tuna on a large-scale, Adnkronos reported

The researchers say they have successfully produced 20 million larvae from tuna in captivity.

Research for the project known as "Allotuna" was conducted by the university's faculty of veterinary medicine and financed by Puglia's regional government.

"It is the first time that we have obtained a result of this magnitude, after so many years of research conducted by several European countries," the project's supervisor, Gregorio De Metrio, said.

Stefano Daniele, a entrepreneur in a local fish farming company Panittica Pugliese, welcomed the results of the research.

"Tuna farming is currently possible only with tuna captured at sea that weigh at least one kilogram. Until now we lacked the capacity to follow up the development of the egg in the larva and thus in the fish," Daniele told Adnkronos.

He said if the research results are confirmed, the first tuna larvae could be ready for commercial production as early as next year.

He also said there was huge potential for international exports, particularly in Japan where red tuna is popular for sushi.

"The Japanese already prefer tuna that is grown in captivity. In fact they impose their own feeding rules in order to produce better tuna," Daniele said.

High quality tuna can command high returns, Daniele said. "The price of a good tuna is 30 euros (47 dollars) per kilogram, but some 200-300 kilogram tuna have been auctioned for up to 60,000 euros," he said

In June the European Union's executive, the European Commission, imposed restraints on Italy, Cyprus, France, Greece and Malta to stop the fishing of red tuna because they had exceeded their quotas.

Italy was accused of exceeding the fishing quota which for 2008 was 4,116 tons. (dpa)