News reports surfaced earlier this year about the
record 155.4 million yen ($1.76 million) auction of a Pacific Bluefin tuna at
the Japan Tsukiji market. The buyer, owner of a sushi chain, shared the tuna
with another restaurant owner with an eye towards satisfying sushi lovers. This astronomical price is directly
attributable to the increasing rarity of the fish. According to research published in January
2013, the Bluefin tuna has been endangered for several years and has suffered a
catastrophic decline in stocks in the Northern Pacific Ocean of more than 96%.
Catching Bluefin tuna is a
lucrative business. A single full-grown
specimen can sell for 2 million yen, or $22,000, at Tokyo's sprawling Tsukiji
fish market. Japanese fishermen are vying with Korean, Taiwanese and Mexican
counterparts for a piece of the $900 million a year wholesale market. As older, larger fish become increasingly
difficult to find, fishermen are turning to younger fish, endangering the
Bluefin life cycle. Approximately 90% of
the specimens currently fished are young fish that have not yet
reproduced. These 9 out of 10 young fish
may have been the last generation of Bluefin tuna.
Bluefin tuna is one of nature's most successful ocean
inhabitants, the biggest of the tuna and a top-of-the-food-chain fish with few natural
predators. But the advent of industrial fishing methods and a taste for the
species among rich sushi devotees have led to its being hunted to the brink of
extinction. If current trends continue,
the species will soon be functionally extinct in the Pacific, and the frozen
bodies held in a few high-security Asian warehouses will be the last gasp of the
species.
Some fish ought not to be eaten, because we have so
overfished them that these fish and other sea creatures are becoming
endangered. Most of people aren’t aware that Bluefin tuna is one of the
tastiest as well as the most threatened fish in the ocean.
Fish dealers at Tsukiji market say the number of Bluefin
sold at early morning auctions has fallen over the past 10 to 15 years, but
most are confident the supply will never run out. Sushi bars and supermarkets
still readily sell the fish, which is considered a special treat that families
might splurge on once every month or two. There's no government campaign to
encourage people to rein in their appetites for this iconic Japanese food.
From the chef’s prospective, what will we do with this
information? What if we could stop the preparation of tuna just like the master
in my previous blog? Is including tuna the only way to present delicious sushi?
What we use alternatives like Yellowfin and Bigeye tuna, caught by American
fishermen? The fishing of these tuna are subject to strict environmental rules
unlike the others. What else can we do to contribute to the conservation of
tuna and eventually bring about a societal change similar to that experienced
with shark fin soup?
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