Kiyoshi Kimura, president of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, has spent about $2.6 million over the past four years on exactly four giant Pacific bluefin tuna in his annual winning bids at the opening of the Tsukji Market, Tokyo’s premier fish market, the largest and busiest in the world. This year, he spent $37,500 on the first tuna (180 kg) of the season while in 2013 he paid $1.76 million for a 222 kg tuna, which remains an all-time record.
Japanese eat 80 per cent of the bluefin tuna caught worldwide, and much the global catch is shipped to Japan for consumption.
Mr Kimura also set the old record of 56.4 million yen at last year’s New Year’s auction, which tends to attract high bids as a celebratory way to kick off the New Year – or get some publicity. The high prices don’t necessarily reflect exceptionally high fish quality.
The price works out to a stunning 700,000 yen per kilogram, or £2,240 per pound.
Stocks of all three bluefin species -the Pacific, Southern and Atlantic – have fallen over the past 15 years amid overfishing.
Picture Credit : Google