A Brief History on Bluefin Tuna
Bluefin tuna and sushi. There isn’t a more iconic duo when it comes to Japanese food. For those who have visited Tokyo prior to September 2018, the Tsukiji Fish Market was renowned for its Bluefin tuna auctions, with tourists forming lines as early as 2am to spectate. On New Year 2019, a restaurateur by the name of Kiyoshi Kimura in Japan paid 333.6 million yen (~3million US dollars) for a Bluefin tuna, a remarkable sum. Today, close to 90% of the world’s Bluefin tuna is sold in Japan.
However, it is not just Japan that has an insatiable appetite for the prized fish. If you go down to any sushi restaurant in the US, odds are you’ll find terms related to Bluefin tuna on their menus such as “maguro,” “toro,” “chu-toro,” and “o-toro,” to name a common few. Its popularity has led to “Wicked Tuna,” a TV drama all about tuna fishing. With the soaring popularity, Bluefin tuna consumption has risen exponentially in the last few decades. To meet this growing demand, fisherman have drastically depleted fisheries, leading to the many Bluefin tuna species now labelled as endangered.
Bluefin tuna being listed on the endangered species list has not deterred many, if any, from trading the fish. Bluefin tuna still remains a wildly popular fish used for sushi and sashimi. This may be attributed to the fact that fish do not exactly look adorable. For example, giant pandas and tigers are also considered endangered species. But if you attempted to buy or sell meat from either of those animals, you would be either be a) unable to find it under normal circumstances, or b) thrown in jail for attempting to traffic endangered species for the sake of consumption. The tiger and the panda both have massive support behind human efforts to re-establish their populations. Tunas, however, do not.
Since childhood, we are often exposed to tigers, from various media such as the children’s TV show, Winnie the Pooh, where Tigger is invaluable friend to Winnie. Tigers are viewed as majestic animals and apex predators, often depicted in paintings or folklore. Pandas are regarded as a symbol of friendship and peace in Chinese culture, and the closest thing to an animal mascot for China. Tuna, on the other hand, does not have universal appeal and has not regarded as such.
People have not always been hooked (pun intended) on Bluefin tuna like today. The increased consumption of Bluefin tuna is actually very recent, tied to economic and political reasons. Historically, the bloody, oily and smelly nature of tuna meat was considered unfit for sushi or sashimi. Fish used for sushi often had white flesh or was caught in the waters near Japan. After the US occupied Japan post WWII, beef and other fattier forms of meat were introduced and made more common. This in part, led to the Japanese population accepting Bluefin tuna, a fattier fish.
Another key reason was one of complete coincidence. In the 1960’s, many sport fishermen in the US had targeted the Bluefin tuna for the fierce battle that engaged when a tuna was hooked and the glory of taking a picture with the caught fish. Afterwards the tuna was often dumped, as the US population had little appetite for Bluefin tuna.
Meanwhile in Japan, the exports business was booming. Japanese electronics were being flown over from Japan to the US. However, the planes were often empty on their return trip. Japan Airlines tasked a logistics team with finding something from North America that Japanese people would want to consume. Akira Okazaki, an executive with the company, travelled across the Northeast, ultimately discovering that sport fishermen were dumping the Bluefin tuna. Okazaki proposed that Japan should purchase these Bluefin tuna at a cheap rate, and promote the fish to sushi chefs. Because the Japanese palette had been exposed to fattier cuts of meat after WWII, the Bluefin tuna was welcomed as a sushi fish. The desire for a slice of fish that we consider a luxury and tradition within Japan, was actually due to clever marketing.
Nowadays, there are limits being placed on the amount of tuna being caught per year, in attempts to revive the fisheries. However, the demand continues, which had led to organized crime targeting the fish to be sold on the black market. In October 2018, Europol announced a criminal network trafficked 80,000kgs of Bluefin tuna, an estimated worth of 12 million Euros (~13.5 million Dollars). There was a structured supply chain that illegally caught Bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean, hid them on boats, forged the shipping documentation, and then trucked the tuna to distributors. The fish made its way to the restaurants via those distributors, causing many to get ill from consuming the tuna due to the unsanitary conditions of inappropriate handling.
With worldwide fisheries of Bluefin tuna depleting at a record rate, people across the world have still not changed their attitudes towards consumption. There has been a small population comeback in recent years, as many chefs are cognizant of the issue and prominent organizations raising awareness for the cause. Unfortunately, with tuna population dwindling, many people have actually decided to increase their consumption, fearing there will not be any remaining if they wait.
