A sushi tycoon paid a record US$3.2 million for a giant bluefin tuna at Tokyo’s new year auction, as conservationists note stock recovery
A Japanese sushi entrepreneur paid a record US$3.2 million (RM12.9 million) for a giant bluefin tuna at an annual new year auction in Tokyo’s main fish market on Monday.
The price smashed the previous all-time high for the prestigious event.
Self-styled “Tuna King” Kiyoshi Kimura’s restaurant chain paid the top price for the 243-kilogramme fish caught off Japan’s northern coast.
“I’d thought we would be able to buy a little cheaper, but the price soared before you knew it,” Kimura said after the pre-dawn auction.
“I was surprised at the price…I hope that by eating auspicious tuna, as many people as possible will feel energised,” he told reporters.
The 510.3 million yen (RM12.9 million) bid was the highest since comparable data collection began in 1999.
The previous record was 333.6 million yen for a 278 kilogramme bluefin in 2019.
The top bidder last year paid 207 million yen for a 276-kilogramme bluefin.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, new year tuna prices were only a fraction of their usual highs as restaurants scaled back.
Dave Gershman at the Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries team said the auction highlighted improving Pacific bluefin stocks after being “near collapse”.
He said a 2017 recovery plan “is working, and if decision makers take further action in 2026, the future for Pacific bluefin will be bright”.
Gershman urged fisheries managers from Japan, the US, Korea, and other Pacific nations to agree on a long-term sustainable management plan this year.
Such a plan would lock in a healthy population and prevent a return to past overfishing, he added.
