The production of sea bass, a major species in Mediterranean fish farming, still relies in many cases on the production of fingerlings issued from wild breeders. Still, genetic improvement is a major key to sustainable development for all optimized forms of animal production. Three types of genetic improvement can be acheived in fish: i) the production of monosex populations. For seabass, monosex female populations would be the objective as females grow 20-30% faster than males. However, sex determination in this species is complex, impacted by both genetic and environmental factors. Hence, production of monosex populations is not yet a routine operation, although in some cases almost 100% female batches have been obtained; ii) chromosome set manipulations, the most important being triploid induction, which produces viable but sterile fish. The aim in seabass would be to increase late growth and protect genetic gain. Although triploid induction is mastered in seabass, it is not used as it induces some growth retardation; iii) selective breeding, which promises important productivity gains on almost all tested traits, probably due to the fact that the species is not yet domesticated. The genetic improvement "toolbox" is therefore available in European sea bass, but truly optimised commercial breeding schemes have only recently started.