'Tuna King' pays record $3.2m for bluefin

TOKYO:

A Japanese sushi entrepreneur paid a record $3.2 million for a giant bluefin tuna Monday at an annual prestigious new year auction in Tokyo's main fish market, smashing the previous all-time high.

Dave Gershman at the Pew Charitable Trusts' international fisheries team used news of the auction to highlight that stocks of Pacific bluefin tuna were improving after being "near collapse".

Self-styled "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura's sushi restaurant chain paid the top price for the 243-kilogramme (536-pound) fish that was caught off Japan's northern coast.

"I'd thought we would be able to buy a little cheaper, but the price soared before you knew it," Kimura said after the pre-dawn auction at Tokyo's main fish market.

"I was surprised at the price...I hope that by eating auspicious tuna, as many people as possible will feel energised," he told reporters.

The 510.3 million yen price at the new year's auction was the highest since comparable data started being collected in 1999.