First Taiwan Bluefin Tuna This Season Sells For USD 567 Thousandff
24 April 2008
Taiwan The first bluefin tuna caught this season was sold for NT$1.73 million (USD57,055) in an auction at Donggang harbor Wednesday.
The auction, presided over by Council of Agriculture head Su Jia-chyuan and Pintung County Magistrate Tsao Chi-hung, marked the beginning of the 2008 annual Pingtung Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival.
The giant tuna fish, weighing 247 kilograms, was caught by a fishing boat named Wan Yi Tsai which is registered with the Liouciou Islet off PingtungCounty.
To qualify as the first tuna caught for the season; the fish must be a northern bluefin tuna - a species native to both the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean. Its weight must exceed 180 kilograms, and the fish must have been alive when it was removed from the water.
The catch must be reported immediately to the nearest fishery radio station and must be shipped back to Donggong harbor by boat.
Three restaurants bid for the fish in the auction. Hung Shih-yang, owner of the Hong Hai Sea Food Restaurant near the KaohsiungInternationalAirport, said he was happy to win the bid for his four-month old business by offering a price of NT$7,000 per kilogram.
The Pingtung County Government has hosted the annual Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival since 2001, with the aim of stimulating the local economy.
Owners of fishing boats operating out of Donggang used to export most of their tuna catch to Japan, but since the county government launched the Bluefin Tuna Cultural Festival, they now prefer to sell their fish on the domestic market for better prices, netting a total profit of over NT$600 million per year.
