Tuesday October 27, 2009
Japan has an insatiable appetite for tuna and other seafood, accounting for 45% of total global seafood consumption each year. Much of it passes through the Tsukiji fish market, which is the largest wholesale market in the world, handling 2,000 metric tons of seafood every day. We visited Tsukiji last week and took this photo of an unidentified tuna species being cut for sale. Last year a single bluefin tuna weighing 128 kg (282 lbs) sold for $153,000, and it is estimated that 3,000 tuna per day pass through the market. According to the United Nations’ Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 9 out of 23 total tuna species worldwide are “fully fished,” meaning catches should not be increased, and 4 more species are overexploited.