Skip to content

Southern Fried Science

Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS

Tag: tsukiji

Fish feel pain, mining feels the pressure, sea lions feel excluded, and science publishing feels like an old boys club. It’s the Monday Morning Salvage: January 8, 2018!

Posted on January 8, 2018January 7, 2018 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • Abstract submission open for the 2018 International Marine Conservation Congress in Kuching, Sarawak this summer! Get your abstracts in early!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • This is a pretty big deal: The Year Climate Change Began to Spin Out of Control. The loop is closing fast and if we don’t break the cycle, things will get much worse much faster.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

  • Fish Feel Pain. Now What? New research raises big questions about humane treatment of sea life.
  • The final first-of-year Bluefin Tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market marks the end of an era. It sold for $323,000, far below historic highs.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/01/7d362d3cdd9b-tsukiji-fish-market-holds-final-new-year-auction.html

Read More “Fish feel pain, mining feels the pressure, sea lions feel excluded, and science publishing feels like an old boys club. It’s the Monday Morning Salvage: January 8, 2018!” »

Half-safe, climate change, deep-sea mining’s last frontier, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: Junes 12, 2017.

Posted on June 12, 2017June 12, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • 27 National Monuments are under review by the Department of the Interior. Our Nation Monuments are our National Treasures. Don’t let them be sold to the highest bidder! Submit formal public comments on the DOI Monument Review and make your voice heard.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Sand. Over the weekend I asked Twitter if they were into sand, and Twitter said yes. So now I’m trapped in an endless cycle of ‘likes’ and facts about sand. it’s a sandstorm!

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

  • Tangier Island. It’s disappearing, due to a combination of erosion and sea level rise, and when it goes,Virginia’s last offshore fishing community vanishes, too. We’re visiting Tangier next week, so now is a great time to read up on the challenges facing the island.
The view from Long Bridge Road on Tangier Island. Credit Andrew Moore for The New York Times
  • Autonomous Cargo Ships Extend Miner’s Technology Drive to Seas.
  • Beasts from the sea dominated the monster flick of the 60s and 70s. Hakai is on the hunt for these leading monsters.
  • I’m sure this is fine. Trump Said to Mull Combining Agencies Separated After Gulf Oil Spill.
  • Donald Trump vs. the Tide of History on Climate Change. A great piece by my old college roommate. Hi Victor!
  • In 1950, an Australian adventurer set out to sail and drive around the world in an old amphibious jeep. It did not go entirely to plan.
  • The world’s smallest porpoise has caused a big battle in Baja California.
  • Paleoshorelines: Time capsules of the ocean’s ancient shorelines from our friends at oceanbites.
  • This week in deep-sea mining: Huge rare metal reserve found on seabed 350 km off Japan.
  • The protests against deep-sea mining are also ramping up. This video, which is perhaps the best I’ve seen capturing local concerns about near-shore hydrothermal vent mines, was featured at the UN Ocean Summit.
  • Japan’s famous fish market, where the world’s most expensive tuna are sold, is closing down to relocate from it’s historic home: Visit Tsukiji, a ‘Great Wonder of the World,’ While You Still Can.

Read More “Half-safe, climate change, deep-sea mining’s last frontier, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: Junes 12, 2017.” »

The era of the million-dollar tuna is over.

Posted on January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 By Andrew Thaler
Conservation, Science

For the last several years, we’ve been following the first-of-the-year Tsukiji Tuna Auction. In the past, this auction has served as a (often questionable) benchmark for the demand for Bluefin Tuna. At its peak, the price of Bluefin Tuna broke the scales at nearly $1,800,000. As the price continued to inflate, last year we even released an early warning to journalists covering the auction, cautioning them against drawing too many conclusions about the expectedly massive auction price. We we’re all caught off guard when the price of the first fish barely topped $70,000 dollars, kilo-for-kilo not even the most expensive fish sold that day.

Today, the numbers are in, and the first Bluefin of the year sold for a measly $37,500, barely enough to cover the cost to fuel for a fishing boat.

The era of the million-dollar tuna is over.

Read More “The era of the million-dollar tuna is over.” »

First Bluefin Tuna sells for $70,000 at Tsukiji Fish Auction (UPDATED)

Posted on January 4, 2014January 7, 2014 By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on First Bluefin Tuna sells for $70,000 at Tsukiji Fish Auction (UPDATED)
Conservation

Update: The blog Food, Sake, Tokyo has the numbers for this year’s auction. Perhaps most interesting, per kilogram the first tuna of the year wasn’t the most expensive fish. A 168-kg fish sold for $382 per kilo (~$64,000 total) compared to $305 per kg for the first fish of the year. In an unexpected turn, … Read More “First Bluefin Tuna sells for $70,000 at Tsukiji Fish Auction (UPDATED)” »

An open challenge to journalists covering next week’s Bluefin Tuna Auction

Posted on December 29, 2013 By Andrew Thaler 3 Comments on An open challenge to journalists covering next week’s Bluefin Tuna Auction
Conservation

Every year, on the first Saturday of January, crowds gather at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo to watch the auction of the first Bluefin Tuna of the year. For the last three years, the legendary first tuna broke the record for most expensive fish ever purchased — $396,000 in 2011, $736,000 in 2012, and a staggering $1,800,000 in 2013. Often highlighted as a symbol of the extent people are willing to go to eat that last bluefin tuna, the annual sale of this fish sets the tone for tuna conservation. With the relocation of the Tsukiji fish market to Toyosu in 2014, next week’s auction promises to be the biggest one yet.

Southern Bluefin Tuna are critically endangered, yet political maneuvering has kept tuna fisheries open and several Pacific nations have been caught falsifying their catch reports. Even still, the massive sale of the first tuna of the year is not indicative of the real demand for Bluefin Tuna.

Read More “An open challenge to journalists covering next week’s Bluefin Tuna Auction” »

Bluefin Tuna and the Tsukiji Fish Auction: caution in drawing conclusions from record breaking prices

Posted on January 5, 2013January 6, 2013 By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on Bluefin Tuna and the Tsukiji Fish Auction: caution in drawing conclusions from record breaking prices
Uncategorized

Andrew ThumbToday marks the first Tsukiji fish market tuna auction of 2013, and, as in the previous two years, the first fish sold broke all previous records. In 2011, the record breaking tuna sold for $396,000. Last year, we tipped the scales at $736,000. Early this morning, the record breaking bluefin tuna blew the previous records out of the water, fetching a whopping $1,800,000 at the auction block, making this 488-lb tuna the most expensive fish ever purchased.

Over the next few weeks, I’m certain that we’ll see this number presented as an argument against bluefin tuna fishing, as an example of an industry out-of-control, and as a symbol of how ruthlessly we’ll hunt the last few members of a species to put on our dinner plates. These issues are reflected in the tuna market, but I want to urge caution in drawing too many conclusions from this record breaking number.

Read More “Bluefin Tuna and the Tsukiji Fish Auction: caution in drawing conclusions from record breaking prices” »

Recent Popular Posts

The story of the pride flag made from NASA imagery: Bluesky's most-liked imageThe story of the pride flag made from NASA imagery: Bluesky's most-liked imageSeptember 27, 2024David Shiffman
David Attenborough's Ocean is on Hulu and Disney+. Let's watch together and discuss it!David Attenborough's Ocean is on Hulu and Disney+. Let's watch together and discuss it!June 16, 2025David Shiffman
Marine Biology Career AdviceMarine Biology Career AdviceMay 30, 2025David Shiffman
Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryShark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryAugust 10, 2014Michelle Jewell
Our favorite sea monsters – Ningen (#4)Our favorite sea monsters – Ningen (#4)September 7, 2010Andrew Thaler
How many nuclear weapons are at the bottom of the sea. An (almost certainly incomplete) census of broken arrows over water.How many nuclear weapons are at the bottom of the sea. An (almost certainly incomplete) census of broken arrows over water.July 26, 2018Andrew Thaler
What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?November 8, 2013David Shiffman
I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.June 21, 2021Andrew Thaler
What is a Sand Shark?What is a Sand Shark?November 12, 2017Chuck Bangley
Here's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationHere's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationApril 10, 2024David Shiffman
Subscribe to our RSS Feed for updates whenever new articles are published.

We recommend Feedly for RSS management. It's like Google Reader, except it still exists.

Southern Fried Science

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS


If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign.

Copyright © 2025 Southern Fried Science.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown