Bluefin tuna sells for record $1.76M in Tokyo
TOKYO (AP) — A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year.
In the year's first auction at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market, a 222-kilogram (489-pound) tuna caught off northeastern Japan sold for 155.4 million yen, said Ryoji Yagi, a market official.
The fish's tender pink and red meat is prized for sushi and sashimi, but bluefin tuna stocks have fallen globally over the past 15 years amid overfishing.
The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said "the price was a bit high," but that he wanted to "give Japan a boost," according to Kyodo News agency. He was planning to serve the fish to customers later Saturday.
Kimura also set the old record of 56.4 million yen at last year's New Year's auction, which tends to attract high bids as a celebratory way to kick off the new year — or get some publicity. The high prices don't necessarily reflect exceptionally high fish quality.
The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or $3,603 per pound.
The best slices of fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" here — can sell for 2,000 yen ($24) per piece at tony Tokyo sushi bars.
Japanese eat 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific Bluefin tuna caught, and much of the species caught worldwide is shipped to Japan for consumption. A 2010 stock assessment of the Pacific Bluefin indicated a declining population.
Stocks of bluefin caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean plunged by 60 percent between 1997 and 2007 due to rampant, often illegal, overfishing and lax quotas. Although there has been some improvement in recent years, experts say the outlook for the species is still fragile.
In November, the 48 member nations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, voted to maintain strict catch limits on the species, although some countries argued for higher limits. The quota will be allowed to rise slightly from 12,900 metric tons a year to 13,500. Quotas were as high as 32,000 tons in 2006.
In the year's first auction at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji fish market, a 222-kilogram (489-pound) tuna caught off northeastern Japan sold for 155.4 million yen, said Ryoji Yagi, a market official.
The fish's tender pink and red meat is prized for sushi and sashimi, but bluefin tuna stocks have fallen globally over the past 15 years amid overfishing.
The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said "the price was a bit high," but that he wanted to "give Japan a boost," according to Kyodo News agency. He was planning to serve the fish to customers later Saturday.
Kimura also set the old record of 56.4 million yen at last year's New Year's auction, which tends to attract high bids as a celebratory way to kick off the new year — or get some publicity. The high prices don't necessarily reflect exceptionally high fish quality.
The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or $3,603 per pound.
The best slices of fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" here — can sell for 2,000 yen ($24) per piece at tony Tokyo sushi bars.
Japanese eat 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific Bluefin tuna caught, and much of the species caught worldwide is shipped to Japan for consumption. A 2010 stock assessment of the Pacific Bluefin indicated a declining population.
Stocks of bluefin caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean plunged by 60 percent between 1997 and 2007 due to rampant, often illegal, overfishing and lax quotas. Although there has been some improvement in recent years, experts say the outlook for the species is still fragile.
In November, the 48 member nations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, voted to maintain strict catch limits on the species, although some countries argued for higher limits. The quota will be allowed to rise slightly from 12,900 metric tons a year to 13,500. Quotas were as high as 32,000 tons in 2006.
Having retired from the fishing industry I  can tell you this, a fisherman will invest in the latest technology and gear to fish ever greater shares of the Quotas.  By Catch be damned as well as the fate of any non targeted species that gets killed.  They will fight in the hallowed halls of government and the courts to keep the regulations archaic, ineffective and in their advantage.  When the stocks plunge to unsustainable levels they will again grace the hallowed halls to get the tax payer to buy out their gear and Permits/Licenses.  They will then go to the courts because the legislatures did not stop their plunder thus killing their livelihood and or community.  Many then re gear and enter a different fishery to repeat the same cycle.  It made me sick so I left. Sadly the good money made the decision more delayed than it should have.Â
How many cans of StarKist is that?
"Japanese eat 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific Bluefin tuna caught, and much of the species caught worldwide is shipped to Japan for consumption. A 2010 stock assessment of the Pacific Bluefin indicated a declining population. Stocks of bluefin caught in the Atlantic and Mediterranean plunged by 60 percent between 1997 and 2007 due to rampant, often illegal, overfishing and lax quotas. Although there has been some improvement in recent years, experts say the outlook for the species is still fragile."
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And the Japanese appear very willing to eat Blue Fin Tuna right into extinction. It is time for the international community to stop this excessive slaughter. All fish, including Blue Fin, can be sustainably harvested but that is not happening because the fish bring so much money.
@I812 The Japanese have always been unconcerned about their fishing habits ruining the oceans. Look at the whole shark thing. Drag a shark onto the boat, hack off the fins while they are alive, throw the shark back in to drown. Real passionate.