The £70,000 Tuna.

The Japan Times has reported that, on Jan 6th, in the famous Tukiji Fish Market, Tokyo that the most expensive Bluefin Tuna of the year was sold at auction for a staggering 9.6 Million Yen.
Basically this translates as buying a Tuna for roughly £68,581! Which is a hell of a lot of John West Tuna flakes.

This was the first auction of the year at Tukiji, and the fish weighed around 128 KGs and was caught in the waters off Oma. Tuna caught here are considered a delicacy and in 2001 an Oma Tuna sold for a whopping 20.2 Million Yen or £144,306!!!!

But who would buy such a fish ?

Apparently the £70,000 Tuna of 2009 was purchased by a a Hong Kong sushi bar owner in cooperation with an upscale sushi restaurant in Ginza, Tokyo. The Hong Kong restaurateur also paid the highest price at last year's first auction at Tsukiji.

"Many countries are now reducing their tuna catch due partly to catch controls.
In November, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas agreed to cut the Atlantic bluefin tuna catch quota for 2009 by about 20 percent from the 2008 level to 22,000 tons, setting Japan's fishing quota at 1,870 tons for 2009, down from 2,345 tons for 2008. Japan's quota for 2010 is 1,697 tons."

JAPAN TIMES.

Links below for more information on the Tukiji Fish Market.

http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/youkoso/about_e.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market