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Auction Price of Tuna Raises Fears of Overfishing
Loading ...A bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49m yen (£254,000) today at the first auction of the year at Tsukiji market in Tokyo, but the fish’s growing popularity across Asia has raised fears it will soon be fished into commercial extinction.
The 342kg tuna easily beat the previous record, set exactly 10 years ago when a 202kg fish fetched 20.2m yen.
Market officials are accustomed to seeing prices rise during the new year auction at Tsukiji, the world’s biggest fish market, but today’s winning bid was unexpected.
“It was an exceptionally large fish,” said a Tsukiji spokesman, Yutaka Hasegawa. “But we were all surprised by the price.”
The tuna, one of more than 500 shipped in from around the world, will be divided between two sushi restaurants – one in Tokyo the other in Hong Kong – which joined forces at the dawn auction for the third year in a row.
Ricky Cheng, the owner of the Hong Kong restaurant, said: “Good tuna is really selling to people in Hong Kong and China, and this is a really good fish.”
The joint bid reflects the growing popularity of bluefin tuna in other parts of Asia, particularly China, and adds to concerns that surging demand means its days could be numbered.
Continue Reading at The Guardian.
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