Nothing drives up prices like scarcity. The most treasured diamonds, I am told, are unusually coloured — intense yellows or pinks or blues. Just one in 10,000 diamonds has such vivid qualities. And for hockey fans, most prized is the Wayne Gretzky rookie card. In 2016, a rare card of this best player sold at auction for a stunning $605,000.

Wildlife, too, can fetch extraordinary prices. On Saturday, at the annual fish auction in Tokyo, one animal claimed a record price: $4 million for a single bluefin tuna. (That’s roughly $6,500 per pound — a price worthy of international headlines.) This rare animal is destined for the luxury Japanese market, for those with expensive tastes. Indeed, the bluefin tuna is savoured by sushi connoisseurs for its scarcity. Its value is skyrocketing. In the past eight years, the top price at auction has jumped 10-fold.

But the bluefin tuna is more than seafood. This species is a sentinel of the oceans. It is the top predator — immense, sleek, and streamlined, essential to the marine food web. Built for quickness and stamina, this fish is capable of epic, cross-ocean migrations and top speeds of nearly 70 km/h. The bluefin has been likened to a fine motor car — big as a Porsche, fast as a Porsche, and as expensive as a Porsche.

The climbing price of these tuna is not just bad news for consumers. It reflects their dwindling numbers. Fuelled by rising prices and growing demand, overfishing has pushed the bluefin to scarcity. In the Pacific Ocean, for every 100 fish that existed prior to industrial harvesting, just three remain. The current catch comprises many juveniles, harvested before the chance to reproduce. The species is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature; it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild. Yet the overfishing continues.

It is a vicious cycle. Once the abundance of a species declines, higher prices encourage more commercial harvesting, leaving the species even rarer and more desirable, furthering its decline. For plants and animals nearing extinction, it is a pernicious interplay of economics and ecology. And it is contrary to conservation.

Such spirals are marked by a legacy of extinction. In the 19th century, the Great Auk was a magnificent, flightless bird, esteemed for its down and eggs. Funk Island, off the coast of Newfoundland, was home to an immense colony of some 200,000 birds.

Overharvested, the species disappeared from Newfoundland waters by 1841. Higher prices propelled the species’ demise. The price of eggs continued to rise — sufficient for collectors to seek the last remaining birds in the North Atlantic. By 1852, the Great Auk was extinct. (Today, just 75 eggs and 78 skins remain. They are, of course, irreplaceable.)

This tragedy is replayed today. In Africa, rhinoceros are being plundered for their horn, prized in Asian medicine as an antipyretic. As rhinos plummet toward extinction, the retail value of horn has soared — to $65,000 per kilogram. Rhinoceros horn is pricier per unit weight than diamonds, cocaine, or gold. Confiscated horn must be stored in vaults. Horns have been stolen from museum collections in Europe. And not surprisingly, poaching has soared.

The end point of the price-scarcity spiral is extinction — an outcome that can be perversely profitable. For rhinoceros, anecdotal evidence has emerged of massive stockpiles of horn. Indeed, if rhinoceros disappear, these stockpiles will become infinitely valuable. It is a “banking on extinction” strategy.

To conserve Pacific bluefin tuna, international agreements are needed to ensure sustainability: The reduction of quotas, the mandatory reporting of catches, and stronger compliance. Under such measures, the Atlantic bluefin — another endangered and severely depleted species — is showing early signs of recovery.

Wildlife is worthy of our attention and conservation efforts. As science reminds us, each species is a masterpiece of exquisite adaptation. And extinction is forever — a price too steep, however deep your pocketbook.

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