KUMANO, Mie Pref. — Thousands of tuna, their silver bellies bloated with fat, swim frantically around in netted areas of a small bay here, stuffing themselves until they grow twice as heavy as in the wild.

Is this sushi's future? Tuna raised like chickens or cows?

As the world's love affair with raw fish depletes wild tuna populations, long-running efforts to breed the deep-sea fish from egg to adulthood may finally be bearing fruit. Though the challenges are daunting, the potential profits are huge.