A massive bluefin tuna sold for more than half a million dollars ( about N152 million) last Thursday during a famous auction held annually in Japan.
Kiyoshi Kimura, sushi mogul and owner of Kiyomura Co, bought the 467-pound bluefin for 74.2 million yen (about N152 million)) during Tsukiji fish market’s first auction of 2017, a widely celebrated event each year in Tokyo.
Outrageous bidding prices have become a tradition at Tsukiji, and the higher the bid, the greater the publicity.
In 2013, Kimura admitted that the almost $2 million(N610 million) price tag was “a bit high,” according to a BBC report, but said he hoped to “encourage Japan” with the bid.
Conservationists, however, would encourage Japan to cut back on its extreme tuna consumption. The country is the biggest consumer of bluefin tuna ― an endangered species ― in the world, eating about 80 percent of the bluefin caught worldwide, according to the Associated Press.
A 2016 assessment showed that Pacific bluefin tuna numbers had declined by more than 97 percent from their unfished numbers and had little chance of recovering.
Culled from today.info23.bplaced.com