Japan 'Tuna King' buys new year catch for $1.8 million

Yahoo – AFP, January 5, 2020

Kiyoshi Kimura paid 193 million yen ($1.8 million) to purchase a
276-kilogramme (608-pound) bluefin tuna (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro NOGI)

Tokyo (AFP) - A celebrated Japanese sushi businessman, nicknamed "Tuna King", paid $1.8 million for a giant tuna at New Year's auction at Tokyo's main fish market on Sunday.

Kiyoshi Kimura, who runs a successful sushi restaurant chain, paid 193 million yen ($1.8 million) to purchase a 276-kilogramme (608-pound) bluefin tuna, caught off the Aomori region in northern Japan.

"This is the best," Kimura told reporters after the pre-dawn auction.

"Yes, this is expensive, isn't it? I want our customers to eat very tasty ones this year too," he said.

Media-savvy Kimura regularly pays top price at the first auction of the year at the Japanese capital's main fish market, making himself and his business a fixture in national news during this season.

In last year's new year auction, Kimura paid a record $3.1 million to win a 278-kilogramme (612-pound) tuna.

The traditional auction is now being held in a new market in an area called Toyosu.

The world-famous Tsukiji market, which had long served as a popular tourist attraction in an area packed with restaurants and shops, closed in 2018.

Fate of bigeye tuna in the balance in quota meet

Yahoo – AFP, Laure FILLON, November 18, 2019

More than 50 fishing nations meet this week in Majorca to try and agree
quotas for the under-pressure bigeye tuna (AFP Photo/JOHN WESSELS)

Paris (AFP) - The fate of big-eye tuna, over-fished and in decline, could be decided this week when fishing nations meet to set quotas after failing last year to agree on safeguard measures for the valuable food resource.

Scientists warn that unless the catch is reduced, stocks of Thunnus obesus -- prized for sashimi in Japan and canned worldwide -- could collapse within years.

A scientific report prepared for last year's meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) showed that numbers had plummeted to less than 20 percent of historic levels.

This was only about half what is needed to support a "maximum sustainable yield" -- the largest catch that can be taken without compromising the long-term stability of a species.

ICCAT, which groups more than 50 parties including the European Union, convenes in Majorca, Spain, on Monday for another review of the situation in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, having failed last year to agree quotas or how to include all members in the system.

Previously, ICCAT has a headline quota of 65,000 tonnes, but in practice the catch was nearer to 80,000 tonnes, well into the danger zone, according to NGOs.

The EU on Monday proposed a quota of 62,500 tonnes through to 2022 which would include 17 countries currently catching more than 1,250 tonnes a year.

Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana and Guinea Bissau, meanwhile, back a quota of 57,500 to 60,000 tonnes, while the Latin American states of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Mexico are pressing for no change.

Quota key to recovery

For the Pew Charitable Trusts, "a quota of 60,000 tonnes would be too high," fisheries expert Grantly Galland told AFP, suggesting 50,000 tonnes instead.

A quota of 60,000 tonnes would make the stock recovery period "too long," Galland said.

Some experts have calculated that cutting the total catch to 50,000 tonnes per year would give bigeye tuna a 70 percent chance of recovery by 2028.

ICCAT will also be looking at other species at risk -- albacore tuna and sharks.

For albacore, it suggests a quota of 110,000 tonnes from 2020.

For its part, the World Wide Fund for Nature recommends that no-go zones be established for certain periods so as to reduce the number of juvenile tuna caught.

The International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), which promotes artisanal line fishing for tuna, wants the meeting to take on board the special concerns of developing coastal countries.

As for sharks, which have suffered massive human predation, Senegal is pushing for all shortfin mako sharks caught to be released, dead or alive.

The shortfin mako, also known as the blue pointer or bonito shark, is among the most at risk and is already protected under international trade by the wild fauna and flora CITES convention aimed at controlling trafficking in endangered species.

Going, going, gone! Tokyo's Tsukiji holds last tuna auction before move

Yahoo – AFP, Shingo ITO, October 6, 2018

Map showing current and planned new location of Tsukiji market. (AFP Photo/
Gal ROMA)

Tokyo fishmongers gathered before dawn Saturday for one final tuna auction at the world-famous Tsukiji market before it closed its doors to move to a new site.

It was an emotional moment for veterans of the market, the beating heart of Tokyo's culinary scene for decades, which many acknowledged had become too rundown to support its mammoth operations.

"I'm almost crying," said Hisao Ishii, a retired seafood auctioneer who was back at the market for its final day.

"Today is a sad day of goodbyes. Tsukiji tried to meet the times, but it is getting older," the 68-year-old told AFP. "I came here today to tell Tsukiji thank you and goodbye."

In the weak early-morning sun, traders filed into a warehouse for the last tuna auction, an indispensable ritual in Tokyo's culinary world, and a major tourist draw.

Hundreds of fresh and frozen tuna tagged with their weight and port of origin were laid out in lines in a refrigerated warehouse, as buyers in rubber boots quietly inspected the wares.

They rubbed slices between their fingers and shone torches into the insides of the fish, swapping information with rivals before the showdown began.

At 6:00 am sharp, handbells rang to signal the auction was under way and the air

 filled with the sound of auctioneers yelling prices at buyers, who raised fingers to

indicate interest (AFP Photo/Nicolas Datiche)

At 6:00 am sharp, handbells rang to signal the auction was under way and the air filled with the sound of auctioneers yelling prices at buyers, who raised fingers to indicate interest.

The highest bidder at Saturday's auction paid 4.4 million yen ($38,700) for a bluefin tuna -- a threatened species -- weighing 162 kilograms (357 pounds) caught off Aomori, northern Japan, according to the market.

It was far below the record 155.4 million yen paid at the first auction of 2013. Buyers traditionally offer eye-watering prices as a "New Year gratuity" when the market resumes operation after winter holidays.

'Pass the baton'

Fish wholesaler Takeshi Yoshida said Tsukiji had left "its mark on history" but it was time to "pass the baton".

Tsukiji's inner market, known as "Japan's Kitchen", will now move to Toyosu, a site in eastern Tokyo, where operations will begin on October 11.

Tsukiji's tuna auctions have regularly produced eye-watering prices, including a record 

155.4 million yen ($1.8 million) paid for a 222-kilogramme bluefin in 2013 (AFP 

Photo/Nicolas Datiche)

"It will be the first massive move in our history," said Hiroyasu Ito, chair of the market association.

"We want to club together and get through it," he told reporters.

The move has been in the works for years, prompted by Tsukiji's dilapidated state.

Wholesalers had raised concerns about the antiquated facility's earthquake resistance, sanitation and fire safety, as well as the structure's use of asbestos and its crumbling walls.

The crowds of tourists who would mob the market, including groups who lined up for hours to win one of just 120 spots for the tuna auction, would also irk wholesalers by interfering with business.

The new site will feature state-of-the-art refrigeration, while tourists will be confined to special galleries behind glass.

But the move has proved controversial, with rows breaking out over pollution and the loss of Tsukiji's globally recognised brand.

Map showing current and planned new location of Tsukiji market. (AFP Photo/

Gal ROMA)

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike was forced to delay the move after a series of problems at Toyosu, formerly home to a gas plant, including soil and groundwater contamination.

Local authorities paid hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the new facility and Koike took the final decision to move the market there in late 2017, ending years of delays.

'Hopes and fears'

The move affects not only the famed fishmongers, but also fruit and vegetable vendors, restaurants and other shops in the inner market.

"I feel nostalgic as Tsukiji has been my home ground for 15 years. We are sad to lose the Tsukiji brand," vegetable wholesaler Tsukasa Kujirai told AFP.

He acknowledged the need for the move but said he was torn between "hopes and fears" about the new site.

The final day of the market looked much like any other in the decades since it opened on the site.

Hundreds of fresh and frozen tuna tagged with their weight and ports of origin were

 laid out in lines as veteran buyers in rubber boots quietly inspected the wares (AFP 

Photo/Nicolas Datiche)

Cars and small "turret trucks" used by vendors whizzed along the roads around the market, which was full of buyers.

As the market closed at noon, workers busily mopped the empty floor after the auction, while hundreds of tourists flocked to the gate, taking pictures of the market's nameboard.

"It's so sad to hear that this very popular and interesting tourist spot will be closed," said Rodolfo Hernandez, a 28-year-old graduate student from Mexico.

The so-called outer market, with brick-and-mortar shops selling everything from seaweed to coffee, will remain after the move.

But the warehouses that housed vendors and additional shops and restaurants are expected to be levelled to make way, initially, for a transport depot for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Beyond that, Koike has suggested the site could be transformed into a kind of culinary theme park, commemorating the market's colourful history.

Bluefin tuna return to North Sea waters after 50-year absence

DutchNews, September 11, 2017

Bluefin tuna have returned to the North Sea for the first time in 50 years, raising hopes that they will soon be seen again in Dutch waters. 

Scientists confirmed that the fish had been spotted off the coast of Scandinavia. The research team were given an exemption from a ban on fishing bluefin tuna so that they could fit satellite tracking devices to 40 specimens in order to keep tabs on their movements. 

Bluefin tuna disappeared from the North Sea in the 1960s as a result of overfishing. They are the largest species of tuna, growing to up to three metres long and weighing as much as 680 kg. 

Experts said it was unclear why the fish had returned to the North Sea, but speculated it could be the result of either global warming or an increase in the numbers of smaller fish that bluefin tuna prey on, such as herring and mackerel. 

The research is expected to last two weeks, though it may take up to a year to process the data from the satellite tags. ‘We’ll be able to see exactly where the tuna have been and where its main food sources are. That will allow us to come up with good conservation measures,’ said project leader Ingvild Harkes.

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Pink salmon, shown in a file photograph,

have a lifespan of two years

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth. ...."

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Illegal tuna fishing costs Pacific US$740m: report

Yahoo – AFP, 15 March 2016

Illegal tuna fishing in the Pacific has reached a "staggering" value of up

to 740 USD million a year (AFP Photo/Alex Hoffard)

Wellington (AFP) - Illegal tuna fishing in the Pacific has reached a "staggering" value of up to US$740 million a year, a study released Tuesday found.

The Pacific supplies about 60 percent of the world's tuna, an economic mainstay for some small island nations, but the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) study is the first attempt to quantify the impact of banned activities.

After two years of research, the European Union-funded study concluded 276,000-338,000 tonnes of Pacific tuna were taken illegally every year.

It estimated the value of the black market catch at US$616 million, but said it could range anywhere from $US520 million to US$740 million.

"The results seem confronting when you hear them up front -- the thought of US$616 million dollars’ worth of illegal fish is staggering," FFA director general James Movick said.

He said the study would help the FFA -- a Honiara-based organisation that helps regulate fishing in the waters of 17 Pacific nations -- to combat the problem of illegal fishing.

Island nations typically have huge territorial waters but limited resources with which to monitor fishing activity.

Palau has only one long-range patrol boat to police an area of 500,000 square kilometres (193,000 square miles), roughly the size of Spain.

The report found the bulk of illegal fishing was carried out by trawlers which are licenced to operate in Pacific waters.

It said they either under-report their catch or transfer it to another vessel out of sight of monitors.

276,000-338,000 tonnes of Pacific tuna are taken illegally every year

(AFP Photo/Pascal Guyot)

An Australian think-tank this week urged Canberra to play a more active role in protecting the Pacific fishery, which it said was approaching "tipping point".

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) said the tuna catch from the central and western Pacific was worth US$5.8 billion in 2014.

But in a report released Monday, it said the fishery was under pressure from factors such as over-exploitation, population growth and climate change.

The think-tank said it was in Australia's interests to protect the resource, describing it as a "game-changer" for some island nations.

"If regional fisheries were to become seriously depleted, (Australia) would be under considerable political pressure to provide greater economic support for most of our island neighbours, with possible long-term implications for political stability," it said.

Much of the over-fishing in the Pacific is blamed on so-called "distant water" fleets originating in Europe, the US and Asia.

ASPI said that in addition to helping island states with fisheries management and enforcement, Canberra should mount a diplomatic initiative to make conservation a priority for the distant water fleets.

It suggested the creation of an "Ambassador of Fisheries", with attachés in countries with large distant-water fleets such as Japan and Indonesia.

"If our fisheries engagement is done well. It will facilitate stronger relations to support our broad regional political, economic, social, environmental and security objectives," it said.

Spanish tuna tradition, a Japanese gourmet delight

Yahoo – AFP, Elodie Cuzin, May 31, 2015

Spanish fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar have kept alive a 3,000-year-old netting
tradition that brings in tuna so tasty, buyers come for it all the way from Japan
(AFP/Cristina Quicler)

Spanish fishermen in the Strait of Gibraltar have kept alive a 3,000-year-old netting tradition that brings in tuna so tasty, buyers come for it all the way from Japan.

Silence falls as the fishermen on board their orange and blue boats stop calling out to each other and switch their engines off, to examine the surface of the water.

Four divers jump in. Their mission is to alert the boat crews when the 200-kilo (440-pound) bluefin tuna swim into the nets.

The fishermen wait to trap their prey in an "almadraba", a system of nets stretched across the water off a beach in Zahara de los Atunes, on the southern tip of Spain.

The tiny resort is named after the tuna that have been caught here in this stretch of water since the Phoenicians ruled the Mediterranean from around 1200 BC.

The tradition survives, despite the threat from overfishing by industrial trawlers.

Each year, bluefin tuna swim through the strait from the bitter cold of the Atlantic into the warmer Mediterranean to lay their eggs.

Fishermen lay the almadraba to create a submarine system of chambers that trap the biggest of the migrant fish.

Bloody yet sustainable

At last a diver pulls at the rope and cries out: "Haul it up!"

With pulleys they draw the tight mesh up to the surface of the waves, the silver-red scales of dozens of giant tuna fish glittering in the sunshine.

Several men jump into the nets and kill the fish with knives, turning the blue waves red.

"We bleed the tuna to stop them suffering and to get the best quality possible," said Rafael Marquez, a 45-year-old almadraba fisherman.

If the fish feel fear, he says, "they give off a substance that spoils the flesh".

This fish bloodbath has prompted shock and criticism, but the Almadraba Producers' and Fishermen's Organisation insists the tradition respects the environment.

"We were the ones who raised the alarm, along with the environmentalists" in the early 2000s about the harm done to tuna stocks by mass trawling, said Marta Crespo, the organisation's deputy leader.

"If the fishing were done only using almadraba, there would be as much tuna in the sea as sand on the beach."

The Spanish biologists' and naturalists' association Hombre y Territorio says it considers the almadraba a form of "sustainable fishing".

"Its 3,000-year history shows that the almadraba is sustainable," said Crespo. "It is the most ancient fishing art in the West."

An international plan launched in 2006 has saved the bluefin tuna from overfishing for the time being and stocks have recovered, she said.

That led countries to raise quotas for fishing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic this year for the first time since 2007, to about 16,000 tonnes -- of which 700 tonnes are for the almadrabas.

Best tuna in the world

At the Frialba factory on the waterfront in Barbate, a dozen employees await, armed with hooks and knives as the boats come back with 60 tonnes of tuna on board.

With swift strokes they slice off a tuna's head and tail and part it into four huge fillets of deep red, for storing at minus 60 degrees Celsius.

Japanese buyers run from one fish to another, choosing the fillets they want to send back home.

Bluefin tuna from the almadrabas is "number one in the world for quality", says Hori Mi-Zu Yosuke, director of the Japanese tuna company Sirius Ocean.

In the 1980s more than 90 percent of the tuna caught by the three fishing companies in the organisation was sold in Japan.

But now young local companies are selling a bigger share -- some 30 percent of the catch -- in Spain itself.

"Tuna is everything to us, to this area. It creates lots of jobs," said Andres Jordan, head of one such company, Gadira. "It is the cream of the ocean."

The wholesale price is about 12 to 14 euros a kilogram (about $7.00 a pound) but the retail customer will pay up to 45 euros per kilo for the prized tuna belly.

When salted and dried, it retails for up to 100 euros ($110) a kilogram.

Slicing in the Frialbad factory gives Jesus Cota, 38, an appetite. After work he orders a serving, straight up in the Japanese style.

"I love fresh raw tuna," he says. "It is red gold."

Related Articles:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I live in Spain. I am sorry if I will ask you a question you might have already answered, but the translations of your books are very slow and I might not have gathered all information you have already given. I am quite concerned about abandoned animals. It seems that many people buy animals for their children and as soon as they grow, they set them out somewhere. Recently I had the occasion to see a small kitten in the middle of the street. I did not immediately react, since I could have stopped and taken it, without getting out of the car. So, I went on and at the first occasion I could turn, I went back to see if I could take the kitten, but it was to late, somebody had already killed it. This happened some month ago, but I still feel very sorry for that kitten. I just would like to know, what kind of entity are these animals and how does this fit in our world. Are these entities which choose this kind of life, like we do choose our kind of Human life? I see so many abandoned animals and every time I see one, my heart aches... I would like to know more about them.

Answer: Dear one, indeed the answer has been given, but let us give it again so you all understand. Animals are here on earth for three (3) reasons.

(1) The balance of biological life. . . the circle of energy that is needed for you to exist in what you call "nature."

(2) To be harvested. Yes, it's true. Many exist for your sustenance, and this is appropriate. It is a harmony between Human and animal, and always has. Remember the buffalo that willingly came into the indigenous tribes to be sacrificed when called? These are stories that you should examine again. The inappropriateness of today's culture is how these precious creatures are treated. Did you know that if there was an honoring ceremony at their death, they would nourish you better? Did you know that there is ceremony that could benefit all of humanity in this way. Perhaps it's time you saw it.

(3) To be loved and to love. For many cultures, animals serve as surrogate children, loved and taken care of. It gives Humans a chance to show compassion when they need it, and to have unconditional love when they need it. This is extremely important to many, and provides balance and centering for many.

Do animals know all this? At a basic level, they do. Not in the way you "know," but in a cellular awareness they understand that they are here in service to planet earth. If you honor them in all three instances, then balance will be the result. Your feelings about their treatment is important. Temper your reactions with the spiritual logic of their appropriateness and their service to humanity. Honor them in all three cases.

Bluefin Tuna Nets $37,000 in Tokyo New Year Auction

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Jan 05, 2015

The president of the sushi restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura, removes
 the fin of a bluefin tuna outside his main restaurant at the outer Tsukiji market, in
Tokyo on Jan. 5, 2015. (Reuters Photo/Thomas Peter)

Tokyo. A giant bluefin tuna sold for more than $37,000 in the first auction of the year at a Tokyo fish market on Monday, as Japan faces growing pressure to cut back on consumption of the threatened fish.

The 180.4-kilogram tuna, caught off Japan’s northern region of Aomori, fetched a winning bid of 4.51 million yen ($37,480), said an official at the Tsukiji fish market.

The bid marked the second consecutive decline at the annual new year sales, after a record 155.4 million yen was paid in 2013 — driven by a bidding war led by a Hong Kong restaurant chain — for a slightly larger fish of similar quality.

Monday’s winner, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of the firm behind the popular Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he was “surprised to win the bid at such a low price.”

“But it’s the best quality,” he told local media. “I’m satisfied with buying the best one — it has a good shape and great fat.”

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 thousand yen at high-end Tokyo restaurants.

The growing popularity of Japanese sushi worldwide has also stoked demand.

The auction came as Japan, the world’s largest bluefin tuna consumer, faces growing calls for a trade ban on the fish, which environmentalists warn is on its way to extinction.

In November, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature updated its “red list” of threatened species, warning that surging global demand for the fish was placing “unsustainable pressure” on the species.

Agence France-Presse