Although Spain has specialised hatcheries and produces tens of millions of gilthead seabream and European seabass juveniles every year, domestic supply is not sufficient to meet the full demand of grow-out farms. Commercial production of both species therefore continues to depend partly on juveniles supplied from abroad.

According to APROMAR’s latest Aquaculture in Spain report, 20.7 million gilthead seabream juveniles and 54.5 million European seabass juveniles were produced in Spain in 2024, a combined total of just over 75 million fish.

Even so, the report states that domestic production needs to be supplemented with imported juveniles to meet grow-out requirements. The main countries of origin are, in order of importance, France, Italy and Greece.

This is particularly relevant because gilthead seabream and European seabass are two of the pillars of Spanish marine fish farming, and any change in juvenile availability can affect farms’ stocking capacity.

The balance between domestic production and imports could become even more important in 2025.

APROMAR estimates that Spanish production of European seabass juveniles could fall from 54.5 million fish in 2024 to around 40 million in 2025.

For gilthead seabream, by contrast, the outlook is positive, with production expected to rise from 20.7 million to approximately 23.4 million juveniles.

These changes do not necessarily imply an equivalent decline in future commercial production, as companies can turn to the European market to meet their stocking needs. They do show, however, that Spain’s grow-out capacity and domestic juvenile production do not operate as a fully self-sufficient system.

This dependence should be understood within a highly integrated Mediterranean juvenile market, in which Türkiye, Greece, Italy, France and Spain account for a significant share of regional production.

For Spanish farms, this specialisation makes it possible to supplement domestic juvenile supply and maintain a grow-out capacity greater than that which could be supported by Spanish hatcheries alone. At the same time, it means that part of production depends on the availability and price of juveniles sourced from abroad.

Ensuring an adequate supply of juveniles is therefore a basic condition for maintaining or expanding production, alongside grow-out capacity, feed, farming licences and market demand.

Partial reliance on imports does not necessarily represent a weakness within a specialised Mediterranean market, but it does make juvenile supply a strategic factor in the future growth of Spanish gilthead seabream and European seabass production.