News Digest

Bluefin tuna sells for more than $36,000 in Tokyo new year auction

A giant bluefin tuna sold for more than $36,000 in the first auction of the year at a Tokyo fish market this morning, as Japan faces growing pressure to cut back on consumption of the threatened fish. The 380-pound tuna, caught off Japan’s northern region of Aomori, fetched a winning bid of $36,700, said an official at the Tsukiji fish market. It was, however, much cheaper than the record price paid for a tuna two years ago.

I’m satisfied with buying the best one - it has a good shape and great fat. I am surprised to win the bid at such a low price.

Buyer Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain

The price decline was due to a “lack of rival bids” and a higher number of bluefins in the waters off Japan’s northern coast, a prime spot for tuna fishing, reports said. Bluefin is usually the most expensive fish available at Tsukiji, the biggest fish and wholesale seafood market in the world. A piece of “otoro”, or the fish’s fatty underbelly, can cost up to several hundred pounds at high-end Tokyo restaurants.