33 thoughts on “Tragedy of the Commons?”

  2. Now that’s a lot of tunafish sammiches!!

    Lass, it says bluefin tuna on the title of the video, so you’ve got it in one. ;)

    • A giant bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49 million yen, or nearly $396,000, in Tokyo on Wednesday, in the first auction of the year at the world’s largest wholesale fish market.

      The price for the 754-pound (342-kilogram) tuna beat the previous record set in 2001 when a 445-pound (202-kilogram) fish sold for 20.2 million yen, a spokesman for Tsukiji market said.

      I guess it was that expensive because it’s so damn big. Yeesh. I’d have left it in the ocean.

  6. bluefin and yellowfin look pretty much the same. Yellowfin are smaller and have a more temperature restricted range.

  7. Zooey they are interested in fat content. Sort of like a well marbled ribeye. There is some suggestion that they are anticipating the closure of the fisheries and are trying to ring the last of the major dollars. There are also way serious freezing technologies which allow for longer term holding then you would expect but I am no expert in that area. I myself do not see how this fish will be able to survive these pressures

  9. Hey dbadass
    Is the high market price because these fish go straight to the high end sushi bars in Japan?

  11. 754 is big but I have seen bigger. This is a fish that can easily exceeed 1000 back in the day…

    • I suppose if the tuna fisheries were closed because tuna became endangered, the Japanese would then start taking tuna for “research.”

  14. Not sure how the brokerage system and end distribution works but I see no way the whole fish could be remarketed and distributed after subportioning in an efficient way without some massive loss of product or freezing. I need to go to Tsukiji and find out how this works….

    • db, it said in the article that two restaurants were splitting the cost of the tuna. I guess they’ll be feeing it to customers this week.

      But a trip to the Tsukiji market would be totally interesting!

  15. I’m aware that there is a cultural pendant for large, virile, fierce, etc. and that eating such creatures somehow imbues these properties.
    Just wondering if the high end establishments can charge more because it came from a big fish.

  16. Usually they spear the fish back near the caudal peduncle with this hollow dart type deal that pulls a core sample of the flesh. They also look for obvious evidence of trauma as exhibited but surface lessions, abrasions and the like. The key though is fattiness which I think can also be reflected in mass to size ratios but it isn’t really my deal. I did used to sell uni to Japan but that was a long time ago…

  18. I am embarassed to admit this but I have personally thrown into a gurry bin for cat food bluefin more than once in my life. Chefs and the rest of us need to not provide a demand for this product

  19. I haven’t heard anything in the last week or so about Sea Shepherd, after their initial contact with the Japanese whaling fleet. Do you know anything?

  22. Assuming a 60 + yield on the fish and considering the portion size at the end user there is no way these guys can sell all this fish fast enough.

    • db, are you saying that much of that giant tuna will likely go to waste?

      You said there’s a lot of waste in the restaurant business.

  23. No Zooey. There is no way the Japanese buyers would waste this fish. What I was saying is that here I have seen it wasted. They must have a very serious mechanism for yielding and using this fish very efficiently. I just don’t know what it is

  24. Well, in the name of sustainable fishing practices, I would strongly suggest a visit to Tokyo, take the Tsukiji Market Tour, find out what they do to minimze waste, share that back here … ?

  25. The giant tuna, caught off the coast of northern Japan

    voted to cut the bluefin fishing quota in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean from 13,500 to 12,900 metric tons annually — about a 4 percent reduction

    yet

    Japanese eating 80 percent of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught.

    This seems only symbolic, in a way, because the quota is only for the Atlantic & Mediterranean. Japan is in the Pacific. This ‘big daddy’ was caught off the northern coast of Japan.

    Why doesn’t Japan worry about the future? (depleting ones livelihood doesn’t make much sense).

  26. This video was fascinating on so many levels (possible endangered species status not withstanding).

    That is an operating room – with a head (not anatomically) surgeon and assistants.
    Calculating, precise – each having a specific area to surgically remove.
    Assistants wiping down the instruments before placing within reach of the surgeon.
    The co-operation – everyone knowing the precise time an instrument/implement would be needed!

    Fascinating – to the bone!

  27. Ebb, excellent description! I also saw the surgical arena when I watched this video ( which took a while, as the hamster situation has still not been remedied). There was even a person wearing a surgical mask … maybe for other reasons?

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