A Japanese sushi entrepreneur has paid a record US$3.2 million for a giant Pacific bluefin tuna at a prestigious new year auction in Tokyo’s main fish market, smashing the previous all-time high.
The 243kg fish, caught off Japan’s northern coast, was bought by sushi restaurant chain owner Kiyoshi Kimura, who styles himself as Japan’s “Tuna King”.
“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 at Tokyo’s main fish market.
“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 winning bid of ¥510.3 million was the highest at the new year’s auction since comparable data started being collected in 1999.
The previous record was ¥333.6 million for a 278kg bluefin in 2019, after the market was relocated from its traditional Tsukiji site in central Tokyo to a newer facility.
Last year’s top bidder paid ¥207 million for a 276kg bluefin.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the new year tuna at Tokyo’s auction fetched only a fraction of their usual top prices as restaurants scaled back operations.
Dave Gershman of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ international fisheries team used news of the record sale to highlight that Pacific bluefin tuna stocks, once “near collapse”, are now showing signs of recovery.
In an emailed statement, 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”.
“This year, fisheries managers from Japan, the United States, Korea, and other countries from across the Pacific who target bluefin should agree on a long-term, sustainable management plan that would lock in a healthy population and ensure that the species never again faces the overfishing of the past,” he added.
