A bluefin tuna sold for a record $1.76 million at a Tokyo auction Saturday, nearly three times the previous high set last year — even as environmentalists warn that stocks of the majestic, speedy fish are being depleted worldwide amid strong demand for sushi. The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or $3,603 per pound. 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 "encourage Japan," according to Kyodo News agency. He was planning to serve the fish to customers later Saturday. The best slices of fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" here — can sell for 2,000 yen ($24) per piece at upmarket Tokyo sushi bars.
Stocks of all three bluefin species —the Pacific, Southern and Atlantic — have fallen over the past 15 years amid overfishing. Bluefin tuna populations in the Atlantic Ocean have declined over 70% in the last 30 years. The Southern Bluefin, which swims in the southern Pacific, has plunged to 3-8 percent of its original levels. On Monday, an intergovernmental group is to release data on Pacific Bluefin stocks that environmentalists believe will likely show an alarming decline.
Therefore, all profits from this sale will go towards efforts to repopulate Bluefin stocks, including lobbying for legislation, with stiff penalties, to adopt and enforce science-based, sustainable limits on both the minimum-size and number of Pacific bluefin tuna that can be caught.*
* Feral Boy is just kidding! Bluefin tuna profits will continue to be used for Eastern European prostitutes and panties that have been soiled by teen-aged school girls. Bluefin tuna populations will continue to decline toward extinction.
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