Tuna Fish Caught By Eli Saban, Ashdod, Israel

The Australian government alleged in 2006 that Japan had illegally overfished southern bluefin by taking 12,000 to 20,000 tonnes per year instead of the their agreed 6,000 tonnes; the value of such overfishing would be as much as USD $2 billion. Such overfishing has severely damaged bluefin stocks. According to the WWF, "Japan's huge appetite for tuna will take the most sought-after stocks to the brink of commercial extinction unless fisheries agree on more rigid quotas".
Japan's Fisheries Research Agency counters that Australian and New Zealand tuna fishing companies under-report their total catches of southern bluefin tuna and ignore internationally mandated total allowable catch totals.
In 2010, a bluefin tuna weighing 232 kilograms (511.47 pounds) was sold at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market for 16.28 million yen ($US 175,000).
In early 2011, a new record was set at 32.49 million yen for a bluefin tuna weighing 754-pounds (342-kilograms), during an auction in Tsukiji Market, Tokyo. This equates to 95,000 yen per kilogram.