Of Rising Temps, Food Prices and Riots
$400,000 for Sushi? Price Underscores Plight of Tuna
Speaking of rising food prices, this whopper of a fish tale comes with a sobering aftertaste.
A 754-pound giant bluefin tuna sold for a record $390,000 in Tokyo’s fish market this week. That translates to roughly $525 per pound, making it one of the most expensive foods in the world.
The fish was bought by two Japanese sushi restaurants, where demand for bluefin tuna is insatiable. Japan consumes more than 80 percent of the world’s bluefin tuna.
That appetite comes with a cost. World Wildlife Fund research indicates that if the current rate of catch for the species isn’t altered soon, the breeding stocks of eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean could become extinct by 2012. Both the northern and southern bluefin tuna are listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one step removed from being extinct.
Of course, lost in the story of the record-breaking numbers and the media blitz around the sale was the fate of the fish itself. The tuna, which checked in at roughly the same weight as a Jersey cow, was estimated to be more than 20 years old, and likely one of the biggest bluefin tunas left in the waters off Japan.
How many more of these sublime creatures are left swimming in the ocean one can only guess. What we know is there is one less today.