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In sushi bars, tuna vanishes bite by bite |
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As chefs at the upscale New York sushi restaurant Megu slide huge knives
through their latest bluefin tuna, the possible extinction of the
species is far from their minds.
Only the fatty underbelly of the fish has their attention -- the white, marbled "otoro" section that tastes like butter and sells at 16 dollars for a morsel smaller than a mobile phone. "It's what people who really like tuna always ask for," chef Zenon Xochmitl says. That frenzy for "otoro," the slightly pinker, leaner "chutoro" and classic red "akami" is also what many countries attending this week's CITES conference on endangered wildlife fear is pushing the entire Atlantic bluefin species toward annihilation. Sushi and sashimi portions are tiny, but the cuisine is so popular in Japan, and increasingly around the world, that diners are literally wiping out the bluefin a bite at a time, marine ecologists say. |
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EDITORIAL: Three months in, new fishing rules bring disarray
The catch share system was rolled out prematurely without the level of analysis, planning, budgeting, and community dialogue that would be expected to be associated with a major federal action.
