(Courtesy of the ABC)

Millions of dollars worth of tuna will be airlifted from sea pens to an onshore facility at Arno Bay today. (AAP Image)

Map: Arno Bay 5603
Aquaculture giant Clean Seas will today airlift millions of dollars worth of tuna from sea pens to its onshore breeding facility at Arno Bay, on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

Up to 30 divers, scientists and aquaculture technicians will be involved in the operation.

As many as 10 southern bluefin tuna each weighing up to 200 kilograms will be lifted from the sea by helicopter and lowered into the breeding facility.

The tuna will join others in the breeding tank for the company's world-first commercialisation of aquaculture-bred southern bluefin tuna later this year.

Clean Seas was the first company in world to airlift fish three years ago.

The chairman of Clean Seas, Hagen Stehr, says today's operation will be extremely complex.

He says if the fish are stressed, they will not breed successfully.

"Tuna are exceptionally difficult creatures to keep calm, the smallest aggravation and the tuna can become quite unruly," he said.

"It's like a human being, if you're stressed, it might be difficult to make love.

"They've been bought up to this stage for close to 10 years and they've been fed in a specific way, step by step by step, those tuna eat better than I do."

Tags: fishing-aquaculture, sa, adelaide-5000, arno-bay-5603, port-augusta-5700, port-lincoln-5606