Price of bluefin tuna nosedives at Tokyo auction

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By ELAINE KURTENBACH

TOKYO (AP) - Sushi restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura paid 7.36 million yen (about $70,000) for a 507-pound (230-kilogram) bluefin tuna in the year's celebratory first auction at Tokyo's Tsukiji market on Sunday, just 5 percent of what he paid a year earlier despite signs that the species is in serious decline.

Kimura's record winning bid last year of 154.4 million yen for a 222-kilogram (489-pound) fish drew complaints that prices had soared way out of line, even for an auction that has always drawn high bids. Kimura also set the previous record of 56.4 million yen at the 2012 auction.

The high prices don't necessarily reflect exceptionally high fish quality.

"I'm glad that the congratulatory price for this year's bid went back to being reasonable," said Kimura, whose Kiyomura Co. operates the popular Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140105/DAB4JN701.html

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This might be the end for the bluefin! There will be a we need to catch 20 times what we did last year to just stay even.



Sushi restauranteur Kiyoshi Kimura poses with a 507-pound (230-kilogram) bluefin tuna he bought at an auction before cutting it at his restaurant near Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014. Kimura paid 7.36 million yen (about $70,000) for the bluefin tuna in the year's celebratory first auction, just one-twentieth of what he paid a year earlier despite signs the species is in serious decline. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

[Earth_First]

1. Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

Personally the trend is outrageously priced for the value.

What one consumes for the price, a week's (or more) worth of groceries could be purchased.

[adieu]

2. Do the prices have anything to do

with the tuna perhaps being radioactive?

[MADem]

3. My first thought, as well.... nt

[FarPoint]

4. Of course it does....

The fear is valid....Japan can't dispute the rumors because they are fact based rumors of radioactive fish.

[Helen Borg]

6. Yup. Probably!

Ain't eating any fish from Japan any time soon.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. Depends on which ocean they were caught in.

Tuna are shipped to Japan from around the world, not all are pulled from Fukushima waters.

[pinboy3niner]

10. Diners reportedly gave their meal a glowing review

[Voice for Peace]

12. DUZY haha ahaahaha ahaha

[NickB79]

16. If that's true, that might save the species

Ironic, being polluted with radioactive material might be the only chance the bluefins have left of not going extinct.

[NutmegYankee]

18. I had that same thought.

Maybe fear of radioactive fish will help them recover.

[sendero]

27. Id' be waving a geiger counter..

... over that fish before I bid a cent.

[PearliePoo2]

5. Yeah...smile and catch 'em until the last Bluefin is gone.

Japanese eat about 80 percent of all Bluefin tuna caught worldwide, though demand is growing as others acquire a taste for the tender, pink and red flesh of the torpedo-shaped speedsters.

"The population has effectively been decimated," said Amanda Nickson, director for global tuna conservation for The Pew Environment Group. "Over 90 percent of Bluefin tuna are caught before they reach reproductive age.
They don't even allow them to get to sexual maturity before they're caught.
Bastards.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Anybody wave a Geiger counter over it?

Might be why the price plummeted.

[onehandle]

8. I prefer Salmon in sushi. nt

[PeoViejo]

11. During WWII, the price of Bluefin Tuna in Maine was five cents a pound.

..and that was on a good Day.

It was called Horse Mackerel back then. Meat was scarce and folks ate foods that were not very popular in Peacetime.
Long Time ago, I helped a friend do an article for Downeast Magazine on Tuna fishing on the Coast of Maine. The major part of the job was to visit current and retired fishermen to record their stories show how the Japanese market had driven the prices sky-high. Buyers would buy the Tuna right off the boat and it would be on a plane the same Day for Japan. The standards were very strict on how the fish was handled after being caught.

[Voice for Peace]

13. sorry charlie

[Voice for Peace]

14. Charlie the Tuna glows in the dark.

[Lasher]

15. Nearing extinction

I ran across this website about a year ago:

The species in the greatest danger of slipping into extinction is the western North Atlantic population (stock) of bluefin tuna. Thanks to 4 decades of overfishing, it has been driven to just 3% of its 1960 or pre-longlining abundance - a decline of 97% - as shown in the figure at left. (ICCAT is the international commission that claims management authority over all tunas, marlin, swordfish and the other big fish of the Atlantic.)

The bulk of the decline which occurred prior to 1975 was caused by Japanese longline fishing on the adults as they concentrated annually for spawning in the north central Gulf of Mexico. In comparison to bluefin, by 1998 Atlantic white marlin abundance had been driven to 6% of its pre-longlining abundance, and Atlantic blue marlin had been driven to 20% of its pre-longlining abundance. Both have continued to decline since.

http://www.bigmarinefish.com/bluefin.html

[jmowreader]

17. It could have something to do with the trend toward smaller fish

Four years ago the biggest tuna sold at Tsujiki weighed 750 pounds. Ten years before that people were pulling thousand-pounders out of the ocean on a fairly regular basis.

[nomorenomore08]

19. Which is yet another sign of over-fishing, correct? n/t

[jmowreader]

21. Correct.

I wonder if the size of a bluefin affects its flavor.

[nomorenomore08]

23. I've always heard that the really giant, like prize-winning, fish aren't particularly tasty.

Which also seems to be the case, interestingly, with extremely large vegetables (e.g. pumpkins).

[nomorenomore08]

20. Not a big fish/seafood eater in general, but I did eat some tuna sashimi (I assume locally caught)

from a Korean grocery store in Oakland the other day. Sad to hear that the species may be disappearing, if only because they're quite tasty as an occasional treat.

[livingwagenow]

22. They could be extinct by 2020. knr nt

[HoosierCowboy]

24. There's a large pallet

of green tea from Japan that's been sitting in the aisle of my local big box store for about three months. Its untouched.

[closeupready]

25. After Fukushima, I put Japan with China on "Do Not Buy" foods

imported from there. Meaning soy sauce, tea (as you point out), just about any food products need to be scrutinized.

[adirondacker]

28. I would add the Gulf of Mexico seafood to the list. nt

[closeupready]

29. Yes, agreed. (The Incredible Shrinking Earth, seems like.)

[adirondacker]

30. We can all thank the multinationals and their cheerleaders. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

26. Most Japanese green tea is grown in Shizuoka or farther west

That is, at least couple of hundred miles away from Fukushima Dai-ichi. It's well out of the bad radiation range. Even the highest radiation readings in Shizuoka (~0.13 microsievert/hour) are much, much lower than the background radiation levels in Denver, Colorado.

http://saigaijyouhou.com/blog-entry-305.html