593-pound Bluefin tuna records $736,000 in Japan

Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market sells giant Bluefin tuna. An auction in Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market managed to sell 593-pound Bluefin tuna for $736,000 whcih break last year’record. Bought by president of Kiyomura Co., Kiyoshi Kimura!!!!!

Bluefin tuna nets record $736,000 at auction

A bluefin tuna caught off northeastern Japan fetched a record $736,000 yesterday in the first auction of the year at Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market. The price for the 593-pound tuna beat last year’s record $421,000.

The price translates to $1,241 per pound – also a record, said Yutaka Hasegawa, a Tsukiji market official.

Though the fish is undoubtedly high quality, the price has more to do with the celebratory atmosphere that surrounds the first auction of the year.

The winning bidder, Kiyoshi Kimura, president of Kiyomura Co., which operates the Sushi-Zanmai restaurant chain, said he wanted to give Japan a boost after last March’s devastating tsunami.

“Japan has been through a lot the last year due to the disaster,’’ a beaming Kimura told AP Television News. “Japan needs to hang in there. So I tried hard myself and ended up buying the most expensive one.’’

Kimura also said he wanted to keep the fish in Japan “rather than let it get taken overseas.’’

Last year’s bid winners were Hong Kong entrepreneur Ricky Cheng, who runs the Hong Kong-based chain Itamae Sushi, and an upscale Japanese restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza district.

This year’s record tuna was caught off Oma, in Aomori prefecture and just north of the tsunami-battered coast.

Bluefin tuna is prized for its tender red meat. The best slices of fatty bluefin can sell for $24 per piece at tony Tokyo sushi bars.

Japanese eat 80 percent of the catch of Atlantic and Pacific bluefins – the most sought-after by sushi lovers.

Japanese fishermen, however, face growing calls for tighter fishing rules amid declining tuna stocks worldwide. (AP – The Boston Globe)