Çesme: Turkey’s Bluefin Centralff

Turkey makes an annual turnover of $60 million from an unusual source: sushi, that most beloved of foods in distant Japan. The reason? Bluefin tuna.

Aqua Group, founded in 2002, is one of Turkey’ leading exporters of bluefin tuna. Izmir Regional Manager Ýbrahim Deniz said the market is a very profitable and dynamic sector, with high employment capacity, exchange input and production.

Bluefin tuna, used extensively in Japan’ traditional foods, particularly sushi and sashimi, is preferred for its oily meat, Deniz said and added: “The demand for tuna is increasing daily. These fish arrive in Japanese kitchens after a long and arduous process.”

Deniz explained that they are only able to hunt bluefin tuna within the quota given by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). Turkey’ current annual quota is 100 tons, but an increase at the ICCAT's annual meeting in November is anticipated, he added.

A Hard Travel During A Month:

Bluefin tuna is followed and hunted with sonar equipment off the coast of the Antalya region and eastern Cyprus and in the northern Aegean between May and July. Nearly 100 tons of live tuna are put in giant transporting cages and moved to fish farms off the coast near Çeþme in Turkey. This difficult journey takes about a month and costs about $1.5 million per cage. No insurance firm will cover the trip because of its high risks.

The tuna are then kept at a fish farm for five months and fed with imported fish such as mackerel and pilchard. Their diet is a natural one, free from antibiotics and other additives.

Reaching their ideal size between December and January, the tuna are shipped to Japan. Some are processed and packaged first, while others are sent whole. Some are sent to Japan by air freight from Istanbul to Tokyo.

Bluefin tuna is sold for about $30 per kilogram on average at the world's biggest fish market, Tokyo's Tsukiji. A particularly fatty type of tuna called “toro” by the Japanese can fetch as much as $ 450 per kilogram.