OMG! I just read in the Huffington Post that a single Northern Pacific Bluefin tuna was just sold for $396,000! You read that correctly. One, single fish sold for $396,000! And, I thought the Atlantic Bluefin tuna was the most valuable fish in the world.
With all the attention Atlantic Bluefin tuna received last year with the potential CITIES listing and then the failure of ICCAT to give it fighting chance of recovery I had no idea its Pacific cousin was in even deeper trouble.
All this time the North Pacific Bluefin has been speeding towards extinction while “a seldom few” made huge profits off their demise. How else could one be worth almost $400,000 or approximately $525.00 per pound?
This 754-pound Bluefin tuna was caught off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido by a longline fisherman and was sold in Tokyo this past Wednesday. What a way to start the New Year—with a demonstration that no matter how rare, there’s obviously no price too high for the last fish and this tuna wasn’t even the last one—yet.
The insanity of market driven extinction was clearly highlighted as a potential reality of our oceans future.
