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A bluefin tuna has become the highest priced fish sold at Tsukiji Market’s auction last New Year.
Hiroshi Onodera, CEO of food service company LEOC Japan Co. Ltd., reportedly shelled out ¥36.5 million for the 405-kilogram fish during the auction. This amount is equivalent to around ¥90,000 per kilogram.
Onodera had beaten Kiyoshi Kimura, a restaurant chain owner, during the auction. Kimura has consecutively won in the auction many times; he even achieved a six-peat last year.
Despite its exorbitant auction price, this bluefin tuna paled in comparison to its purchase prices in previous years. In fact, Onodera’s bid was only half of Kimura’s bid last year. According to reports, Kimura made the highest bid in 2013, which was at ¥155 million.
Jamie Gibbon of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ conservation team asserts that the auction prices of bluefin tuna do not indicate the fish’s actual market value. This is because the prices also cover the auction’s ceremonial elements. The Tsukiji Market usually sells a kilogram of bluefin tuna for only ¥4,500.
Pew Charitable Trusts reported that the market supply of bluefin tuna has increased in recent years. However, this increase causes the depletion of the tuna’s population, which might contribute to the possible extinction of the species.
Before 2010, there were no implemented restrictions that regulate the amount of bluefin tuna that a country can import. But last year, leading fishing economies like Japan, South Korea, and the United States have decided to target a 20% recovery of the Pacific bluefin tuna population by 2034. Currently, each country still has the discretion to control the allocation within its local fisheries.