A bluefin tuna caught in the sea off Aomori Prefecture was sold for 5.85 million yen at the year's first auction Wednesday at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market, far less than the record high 20.2 million yen fetched in 2001.
The 234-kilogram tuna landed at Oma, the northernmost town on Japan's main island of Honshu, snagged the highest price among 3,748 tunas shipped from all over the world, including Italy, Spain, Taiwan and the tsunami-hit Maldives. The highest fetched price translates into 25,000 yen per kilogram.
According to middlemen and Tsukiji officials, the tuna shipment this year was almost the same as in usual years, but the fish did not fetch higher prices due to the shortage of good-quality inshore tuna.
Many brokers expressed concern about the market because of the economic downturn in Japan and possible adverse effects on the tuna shipment from the Maldives following the Dec. 26 tsunamis caused by massive quakes off Indonesia. “I am worried because I heard half of the local fishing boats as well as fishermen were affected†by the tsunamis in the Maldives, said one middleman.
One big tuna can supply thousands of people with the most popular types of sushi and sashimi.