GROWING restrictions on catches of eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean bluefin tuna have seen Japan's huge tuna industry bracing itself for dramatic price rises.

A 20% rise in 2007 was predicted by Kyodo News, Japan's leading news service, but, so far, this has not materialised.

High, middle and low prices for southern bluefin tuna at Tsukiji market on March 13, 2006, were YEN7350, YEN1572 and YEN420 respectively.

On March 12, 2007, the prices were YEN6615, YEN2439 and YEN840.

These figures reflect the quality of individual deliveries and can change on any given day.

However, average acrossthe-board prices remained virtually the same before and after the November 2006 tuna conference in Hobart, Australia, which set the reduced quotas for bluefin.

Other factors, such as seasonal differences, also affect prices. Bluefin are considered to be at their best in winter.

When the northern varieties spawn in May or June, prices go down and buyers increase purchases of big-eye tuna.

Big-eye is the chief species used in sushi shops, as bluefin are reserved for the gourmet cuts. Spring is the best season for yellowfin.

The most expensive tunabased sushi comes from bluefin tuna. Japanese connoisseurs prefer the fatty cuts, called o-toro for the fattiest cuts and chu-toro for the medium fatty, as opposed to the leaner, cheaper and more common maguro.

Japan produces much of its own bluefin, especially in the seas around northern Honshu (the main island) and Hokkaido.

Southern bluefin are caught by fishermen operating out of Japanese ports such as Misaki and nearby Jo-gashima Island. They are also imported from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

Imports at Tsukiji, Japan's main wholesale fish market, average a little less than 800 tonnes a year, as compared with over 2000 tonnes of imported big-eye tuna and over 2500 tonnes of bluefin imported from other regions.

Small village with a big supply MISAKI Port, in Kanagawa Prefecture, is a small fishing village, but its Sunday market is Japan's second largest for tuna landings, averaging 25,000 tonnes a year.

The biggest tuna port in Japan in Yaizu, in Shizuoka Prefecture, which borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the west.

The Sunday market at Misaki runs from 5 until 9am. Fish are brailled out of collector boats into totes which are then delivered to the inner market by forklifts.

Fish in the market hall are moved on to trucks for transhipment to Tsukiji market in Tokyo or other destinations, or are bought by local operators of retail fish markets, processing plants, seafood restaurants or inns.

The main deliveries on the day of my visit were live young yellowtail - a spring seasonal delicacy - fresh skipjack tuna or bonito (katsuo in Japanese), young bluefin tuna (meji) caught by a local longliner and young yellowfin tuna (kimeji), also caught in Japanese waters.

The young bluefin landings totalled 900 kg. , most bought by local buyers, while most of the yellowfin was shipped to Tsukiji.

As for the skipjack tuna and the young yellowtail, most were bought by wholesalers' agents who ship them all over Japan.

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