"Japanese man dubbed 'King of Tuna' buys tuna at auction for €2.74 million
In Japan, the owner of a famous sushi restaurant chain, nicknamed the "tuna king", bought a giant tuna for a record $3.2 million (€2.74 million) at a New Year's auction at Tokyo's main fish market on Monday.
This is the highest price ever achieved at the annual auction.
Dave Gershman of the Pew Charitable Trusts highlighted at the auction that bluefin tuna stocks in the Pacific Ocean, which have been severely limited until now, are slowly recovering.
The restaurant chain of Kiyoshi Kimura, the winning bidder, paid the highest price for a tuna weighing 243 kg caught off the northern coast of Japan.
„I thought we would be able to buy it a little cheaper, but the price unexpectedly went up,“ said Mr Kimura after an early morning auction at Tokyo's main fish market.
„I was surprised by the price (...). I hope that more people will feel full of energy after eating the tasty tuna," he told reporters.
The sum of ¥510.3 million was the highest price paid at a New Year's auction since 1999, when comparative data began to be collected.
In 2019, 333.6 million yen (€2.7 million at the then exchange rate) was paid for a 278 kg tuna. That was the first time the auction was held at Tokyo's new fish market, which replaced the world-famous Tsukiji market.
The highest bidder last year saved 207 million yen (€1.28 million) for a 276 kg bluefin tuna.
Shortly after this year's auction, the tuna was cut up and turned into sushi, selling for around 500 yen (€2.57) each.
„I feel like I've started the year off well by eating something so auspicious for the start of the year,“ 19-year-old Minami Sugiyama told AFP news agency as she sat in a restaurant in the Tsukiji district of Kimura.
She was joined by another customer, Kiyoshi Nishimura (Kiyoshi Nishimura).
„Even without being soaked in soy sauce, it has a sweetness. And the richness, the texture (...) it just makes you feel happy," said the 40-year-old Shinto priest.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of tuna at the annual auction was sharply reduced due to severe restrictions on caterers.
D. Gershman said in a statement that the 2017 recovery plan „is working, and if decision-makers follow through in 2026, there is a bright future for Pacific bluefin tuna " " "
„This year, fishery managers from Japan, the United States, Korea and other Pacific bluefin tuna fishing nations should agree on a long-term, sustainable management plan to ensure that populations remain at normal levels and that the species is never again threatened with the overfishing that has been common in the past,'' he added.
