Blue Fin Tuna

[singlepic id=917 w=320 h=240 float=center]

TOKYO (AP) — It is the king of sushi, one of the most expensive fish in the world — and dwindling so rapidly that some fear it could vanish from restaurant menus within a generation.

Japanese Chefs Remain Calm Over Dwindling Tuna Supply

With the recent $1.76 million sale of a single bluefin tuna in Tokyo, bluefin tuna – the poster child for sustainable seafood – is front page news again. These apex predators fetch such high prices because their populations are too low to support the demand, primarily fueled by the sushi market.

Sustainable Alternatives To Bluefin Tuna

Bluefin tuna just can’t catch a break. Weeks after it was reported that overfishing had reduced the Pacific population of the fish, which is popular in sushi bars, by over 96 percent, researchers have found trace levels of radiation still lingering in their flesh almost two years after the catastrophe at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. And the 50 tuna they studied were all caught off the coast of California, 6,000 miles east of Japan, where they were born.

Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Still Being Caught Years After Fukushima

The latest population assessment for Pacific bluefin tuna, released earlier this week, concluded that only 3.6 percent remain after decades of overfishing. Pacific bluefin is the same specie of fish that set the world record at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo on Saturday, January 5, when a 489-pound animal sold for $1.76 million.

Seize This Moment for Bluefin Tuna

In what has now become an annual ritual, the first bluefin tuna of the year sold at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo has yet again garnered an astronomical price — $1.76 million for a 489-pound fish. This is supposed to demonstrate the buyer’s largesse to his customers and would be a laughable spectacle of profligacy if it didn’t have such far-reaching consequences.

Japan: Dancing on the Grave of the Bluefin Tuna

The latest stock assessment of Bluefin tuna in the Pacific released on Wednesday indicates that overfishing has pushed the stock of the giant fish down by a shocking 96.4 percent compared to unfished levels, flying in the face of the conventional wisdom about Bluefin tuna, which says that the Pacific population is much healthier than the Atlantic population.

Overfishing Has Cut Pacific Bluefin Tuna Stocks 96 Percent, Says Study

Kiyoshi Kimura, owner of the Tokyo-based restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai, recently paid 1.76 million dollars for a very nice looking 488-pound bluefin tuna. That’s an average of about $3,600 per pound — a mere $225 per ounce.

The Million Dollar Fish: Calling All Neuroconservationists

TOKYO — 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.

Most Expensive Tuna In The World Sells For Over A Million At Tokyo Fish Auction

More stories on tuna may be found on Huffington Post

© 2013, admin. All rights reserved.