tsukiji | Southern Fried Science

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, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

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

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

Posted on June 12, 2017 by Andrew Thaler

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.

The era of the million-dollar tuna is over.

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Andrew Thaler

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.

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

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Andrew Thaler

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, the first Bluefin Tuna auctioned at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, sold for approximately $70,000, a dramatic drop from the record breaking $1.8 million. The buyer, Kiyoshi Kimura, is the same man who won the auction in 2011, 2012, and 2013. This is a radical change from previous years and may symbolize a shift back to actual market value, rather than “auction-as-performance” to drive up the demand for Bluefin Tuna.

It should be noted that even the $70,000 price tag is unaccountably high. The price for Bluefin Tuna in Japan peaked at $34 per kilogram in 1990 and has been in decline (with occasional fluctuations) since. At that price, a 350 kilogram fish would only sell for ~$12,000. This year’s first fish appears to have weighed 230 kilograms.

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

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Andrew Thaler

Today 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.