bluefin tuna

19 Stories

Someone Just Paid $1.79M for a Dead Fish

It's the 1st giant bluefin tuna of 2020

(Newser) - It's an annual thing in Japan: Who will spend the big bucks on the year's first auction of a huge bluefin tuna? In 2020, the honor goes to self-dubbed "sushi king" Kiyoshi Kimura, who ABC New s reports paid $1.79 million for the 608-pound fish on...

Man Buys Fish for $3.1M, Expresses Some Regret

For Kiyoshi Kimura, it's good publicity

(Newser) - At $3.1 million it's kinda pricey—but hey, it's bluefin tuna. The owner of a Japanese sushi chain made history Saturday by dishing out the highest-ever sum for a single fish at the new year's auction of a Tokyo fish market, CNBC reports. "I bought...

New Year's Tuna Sells for $118K

80-year-old Tokyo tradition is about to change

(Newser) - It's among the biggest of Japan's many New Year holiday rituals: Early on Tuesday, a huge, glistening tuna was auctioned for 14 million yen, around $118,000, at Tokyo's 80-year-old Tsukiji market. Sushi restaurateur Kiyoshi Kimura has prevailed in most of the recent new year auctions, and...

Hong Kong Gov't Will Stop Serving Shark Fin

Bluefin tuna, black moss will also no longer be on menu at official functions

(Newser) - The menus at the Hong Kong's official functions just got a bit more eco-friendly. The government has announced it will stop serving shark fin at its events, and will encourage government-funded bodies to follow suit, the BBC reports. It will also stop serving bluefin tuna—which is endangered—and...

Bluefin Tuna Sells for $1.8M
 Bluefin Tuna Sells for $1.8M 

Bluefin Tuna Sells for $1.8M

Tokyo auction shatters previous record

(Newser) - If last year's record price of $736,000 seemed high for a bluefin tuna, then this year's new mark will be even harder to fathom: The owner of a Japanese restaurant chain paid $1.8 million at an annual Tokyo auction, reports the BBC . Even he thought it...

New Japan Import: Radioactive Bluefin
 New Japan Import: 
 Radioactive Bluefin 


FUKUSHIMA FALLOUT

New Japan Import: Radioactive Bluefin

Study finds tuna off California with cesium levels 10X higher than usual

(Newser) - Radiation from Japan's nuclear meltdown keeps hitting US shores : The latest comes in the form of the bluefin tuna, a massive fish that can top 1,000 pounds and which spawn off the coast of Japan and rocket 6,000 miles across the Pacific to school off of California...

Tuna Sells for Record $736K
 Tuna Sells for Record $736K 

Tuna Sells for Record $736K

That breaks down to about $1,238 per pricey pound

(Newser) - Japan's first tuna auction of the year generally sees millions of yen tossed around—in 2011, the top bluefin sold for 32.49 million yen, the equivalent of about $423,000. But hold on to your hats, because 2012 makes that look like chump change. A 593-pound fish sold...

Feds Seize 881-Pound Bluefin Tuna

Fishing boat accidentally caught it in net, which is illegal

(Newser) - A Massachusetts fisherman nearly caught a fortune in the form of an 881-pound bluefin tuna, but it's now the property of the US government. A fishing boat owned by Carlos Rafael snagged the massive fish inadvertently in its trawling net, reports the Standard-Times of New Bedford. It could have...

Asian Nations Torpedo Shark Protection

Endangered species conference labeled 'a disaster for conservation'

(Newser) - Conservationists were left fuming yesterday after a UN conference on endangered species failed to win protection for a single marine species. Asian nations, led by Japan, defeated efforts to restrict trade in coral, sharks, and bluefin tuna. The one species to be given protected status, the porbeagle shark, had its...

US Backs Bluefin Tuna Ban
 US Backs Bluefin Tuna Ban 

US Backs Bluefin Tuna Ban

Obama administration stands with conservationists

(Newser) - The Obama administration will endorse a full ban on the international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, the strictest protection yet for the endangered sushi fish. Monaco proposed such a ban late last year, but the administration hesitated to endorse it, sparking criticism from marine scientists. Now, with less than two...

Sushi Chefs Search for Bluefin Alternatives

Endangered tuna yields to farmed variety, humbler fish

(Newser) - As bluefin gets ever closer to extinction and governments mull a ban on international trade in the prized tuna, some restaurants are taking it off the menu. Others are sticking with the old favorite because it's what customers expect, but converts embrace the change. “It forces me to be...

Huge Tuna Fetches $176K
 Huge Tuna Fetches $176K 

Huge Tuna Fetches $176K

Rare bluefin pulls in even rarer sum at Japanese auction

(Newser) - A gigantic bluefin tuna, weighing in at 512.8 pounds, sold for roughly $176,000 today in an auction in Japan, a sum not seen in nearly a decade. It was Japan’s first tuna auction of the year—amid rapidly declining bluefin stocks—yet it beat out the top...

Man Reels in 157-lb Bluefin —in His Kayak
 Man Reels in 
 157-lb Bluefin 
 —in His Kayak 
Teach a man to fish

Man Reels in 157-lb Bluefin —in His Kayak

Waiting for the fish to exhaust itself can be quite a ride

(Newser) - Futures trader Dave Lamoureux set a record this month for catching a 157-pound bluefin tuna. Alone. In his kayak. It's the third bluefin he's caught since July off the Massachusetts coast, as one of a growing coterie of kayakers fishing for the behemoths. Using secret tactics, the New York Times ...

The Tuna on Your Plate May Be Endangered

(Newser) - You might suspect a sushi restaurant that doesn’t specify what sort of tuna you’re eating of trying to pawn off an inferior species. Not so. Researchers using novel DNA barcoding technology found that though nearly a third of tuna sold in 31 US restaurants was the prized—and...

Forget Fur: New Celeb Cause Is Food

Overfishing, too much meat are the top causes

(Newser) - Protesting fur is so last decade. Celebrities are now championing their favorite food-related causes, whether it's Paul McCartney asking Brits to cut back on meat, Jamie Oliver refusing to serve endangered bluefin, or celebs lining up to publicize a new film about overfishing, the Guardian reports. Why now? Government inaction...

De Niro at Center of Celeb Food Fight

Actor's restaurant chain causes uproar with use of endangered tuna

(Newser) - Celebrities including Sienna Miller, Charlize Theron, and Sting are joining the food fight against famed restaurant Nobu, the New York Post reports. Activists are demanding the Japanese eatery, co-owned by Robert De Niro, remove endangered bluefin tuna from its pricey menu so they can “dine with a clear conscience....

Japan Cooks Up New Technique to Save Bluefin

(Newser) - Japanese scientists are racing to keep bluefin tuna from dying out by inducing another fish to give birth to them, GlobalPost reports. Overfishing has already decimated bluefin and convinced many diners, supermarket and sushi chains to avoid the fish. Now Japan is paying a Tokyo University team to replenish bluefin...

EU Trims Tuna Catch, Experts Warn: 'Not Enough'

New quotas well above sustainable limit

(Newser) - The European Commission completed a deal this week cutting back on the fishing of bluefin tuna, the Economist reports, but not sharply enough to save the species, scientists argue. The deal gradually reduces the legal catch from 28,500 tons this year to 19,950 tons in 2010—but conservationists...

Bluefin Swim Toward Extinction
 Bluefin Swim Toward Extinction 

Bluefin Swim Toward Extinction

Politicking produces bad management of big tuna

(Newser) - Bluefin tuna are disappearing from the Atlantic and Mediterranean because of overfishing and an ineffectual world agency that's failed in its sole mission of protecting the fish, the Economist reports. Up to 60,000 tons are hauled in each year, legally or otherwise, when the limit should long have been...

19 Stories