754 lb Bluefin sells for $396,000

[Harv]

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/05/754-p ... -in-tokyo/

That works out to $527 per pound.

[CaptPatrick]

Now, consider that it's a wholesale auction, the tuna probably dresses out at 70% edible, (Japanese ain't lettin' much go to waste), bringing the net wholesale cost to around $750 per pound. Carry that to a 300% markup for retail and you get $2,200 a pound. If the average serving size is 6 oz, that's over $400 per plate...

Or, about what the average offshore American sport fisherman is probably paying for fish caught off of his own boat...

[Carl]

Oh Capt Pat...that hurt!



Look how much some people pay for Bottled Water...


As the Japanese paying those bucks...there is only "One" First Bluefin of the Season. The Winning bidder is supposed to be held in high regards...kind of like flying more flags of the outriggers...

[Capt. DQ]

Hell, I'm going to the Japanese Rest. and get me Lava roll with shrimp & crab mostly for about $1.50ea. :)

DQ

[Bruce]

I would guess a good portion of what they consume is based on voodoo and verility thinking and they pay thru the nose for it.

You would have thought by now someone would have asked the God of height to throw them a bone.

[Rocky]

I guess one might say,to the wealthy, who cares about prices!! My dealer owner(has 15 dealerships) just reported 304million for the previous year, has houses everywere, and now just thinks of managing money like a game. By the way, does the meat from that tuna get distributed to different restaraunts? I'd imagine you would have to consume it in a hurry to eat it fresh?

[Carl]

Another big part of this is prices are so inflated in Japan.

Some friends went to Japan after the Olympics. They have money and pretty good at spending it...They where completely taken back after the 1st Day.

Cab ride from the airport to the Hotel, about a 25 minute ride...the cabbie tells them $275.00. They figure its a Translation or Currency Exchange issue and request hotels concierge give them a hand...Conceirge tells them the normal rate would have been $300 and the driver was giving the Out of Towners a break.

They are exhausted from the day and decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. Couple drinks and a "nothing much meal" $600.00. For a couple that never asks prices...they said they started to...eventually they found some Local places that were reasonable...but by and large they said Japan is overwhelmingly expensive.

[Pete Fallon]

Guy's,
Talk about inflation, when I first started fishing for Gaint Blue Fins back in 1973 we were lucky to get between 3 and 5 cents a pound, and we didn't keep any fish unless they were over 700 pounds. Sometimes the buyers would tell us to go away and tow the fish out to sea and dump the catch, no Japanese market that week, other times they would take the fish and just clear off the bait bill for that week. It slowly got a little better in 1981 I landed a 980 pounder, top quailty fish and was happy with $1.50 a pound. I worked for Task International in the mid 80's as a buyer the best prices were $10-12 a pound for the boat. I stopped fishing for the giants in 1993 and we got 11 fish in 22 days of fishing. all over 400 pounds we were getting around $ 36.00 per pound.
I fished a tourney in Gloucester back in the late 70's, we caught three fish in one day all over 900 pounds, Ed Murray on the old Cookie had 3 fish all over 1000 pounds, 1st place. Oscar on the Marlin had 2 fish over 1000 and 1 975, 2nd place Needless to say we came in 3rd in that tournment.
I still try to keep track of the gaint fishery and haven't seen or heard of a 1000 pound fish caught in US waters for quite a while. Talk about inflation just to go fishing for 1 day offshore is over $600 just in fuel, bait and food. I'm glad I don't have to do that for a living anymore.