Record size tuna price shows shortage of tuna -an environmental crisis

January 6, 2009 at 8:00 pm (mammals, saving native fish, working together)
Tags: ecosystems in crisis, endangered/threatened, food, mammals, nature, saving native fish, working together

A bluefin tuna sold for a record 20.2 million yen

($ 173,688.73 dollars) on Friday in the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s main fish market, an official said.

At 100,000 yen per kilogram or $390.83 dollars per pound, the 202-kilogram fish was the most expensive sold at the Tsukiji Central Fish Market since 1996.

That year a 114-kilogram (250-pound) bluefin fetched 5.13 million yen ($44,111.06dollars), or 45,000 yen per kilogram ($175.88 dollars per pound).

Called honmaguro in Japanese, the tuna can grow to three meters (10 feet) long and weigh as much as 300 kilograms (660 pounds). They are served raw as sashimi or sushi in restaurants where an assortment of slices can bring a bill of more than 10,000 yenor $100 dollars.

Both the current and the previous record-setting fish were caught in the Pacific Ocean off Aomori Prefecture (state) in northern Japan, an area known for the quality of its tuna
It is thought that the buyer may have been willing to pay a premium because the fish auctioned Friday was the first catch auctioned this year.

Tusukiji is the largest of Tokyo’s 11 wholesale fish markets, handling about 90 percent of all marine products that end up on the city’s tables.

Called honmaguro in Japanese, the tuna can grow to three meters (10 feet) long and weigh as much as 300 kilograms (660 pounds). They are served raw as sashimi or sushi in restaurants where an assortment of slices can bring a bill of more than 10,000 yen (dlrs 100).
Japan eats a quarter of the world’s tuna, more than any other country, but faces pressure from enviromentalists who have blamed the global fad for Japanese food for bringing tuna numbers to the brink of extinction.
“The price of bluefin tuna was about average,” said Kiyomura spokesman Masaki Kimura. “But the end prices of tuna, especially southern bluefin tuna and bigeye tuna, seem to be already soaring these days.”

“As long as consumers demand tuna, I think the price will go up much higher,” he said.

In Japanese restaurants, late season jumbo maguro, as the giant bluefin is called, sells for as much as $20 for a two-bite serving. Belly meat commands a premium
An international commission in November reduced the world’s gross catch of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean from 32,000 tonnes this year to 29,500 tonnes for 2007, a move likely to lead to an import crunch in Japan.

Japan has also accepted a major cut in its quota for southern bluefin tuna in the Pacific Ocean as punishment for overfishing.

But the first bluefin tuna bidding of this year was no big surprise compared with recent years, according to sushi restaurant chain Kiyomura, which bought the 35,000-dollar tuna.
WorldCatch News Network APNews—Pacific Tuna Ventures
http://www.pacifictunaventures.com/TunaMarketing.htm

tuna prices:  http://www.marunaka-net.co.jp/maruna_e/tunae.htm

Image courtesy of yearsfirsttunaauctionfetches8yearhighof100000.php