Massive bluefin tuna nets over $3 million at Tokyo auction

Japan's Kiyomura Corp paid 510 million yen (roughly €2.8 million or $3.25 million) for a single bluefin tuna at auction in Tokyo on Monday, the highest price ever paid at the annual New Year auction that's now held at the Toyosu fish market.

The giant fish weighed 243 kilos (536 pounds) and, as in years past, Kiyomura's president and "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura was willing to pay over the odds for the finest specimen on sale.  He beat his own previous record of 333.6 million yen, set at 2019's auction.

"I thought that [the winning bid] would come in a little bit lower, maybe around 400 million or 300 million yen but it turned out to be over 500 million," Kimura said.

The fish was caught off the cost of Oma in northern Japan, a region widely regarded for producing some of the country's finest tuna. Prices for Oma tuna at the special auction tend to be significantly higher than average.

Kiyomura Corp operates the Sushizanmai chain of restaurants. After Monday's early-morning sale, the prime specimen was immediately sent to the head branch, where it was sliced up and distributed to various stores around the country.

Kimura said his record bid was reflective of optimism for the year to come under a new government.

"I hope the economy will get better this year. The Takaichi administration pledged to work, work, work, so Sushizanmai will work, work, work too," he said, referring to the country's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. "I hope this bid will cheer everyone up."

Kimura said that despite him splurging on the oversized bluefin, customers would pay standard prices of around 500 yen per roll for the cuts.

Because of its popularity for sushi and sashimi dishes, Pacific bluefin tuna was formerly considered a threatened and severely overfished species. But conservation efforts in recent years, not least with quotas set by an international working group in 2017, have helped improve the situation.

The IUCN Red List now classifies Pacific bluefin tuna as a "near threatened" species, a downgrade from its previous status as "vulnerable."

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