New Bluefin Tuna Price Record

And we have a winner! Today, January 5th, 2011, a 754 pound bluefin tuna was sold in the Tsukiji Fish Market in Japan for a whopping $396,000 (or about $526/lb). What makes this even more interesting is that the last record sale price was recorded on the exact same date in 2001, 10 years ago to the day. What a coincidence! (well, sort of, as this is the first auction of the year, but it’s still interesting).

While this is news in and of itself, this could be the final record for a long time as the November 2010 meeting where the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decreased the 2011 quota by only 4%. With these fish over harvested for years, it is just a matter of time before they are commercially extinct.