
Sushinomics: How Bluefin Tuna Became a Million-Dollar Fish - ryan_j_naughton
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/sushinomics-how-bluefin-tuna-became-a-million-dollar-fish/282826/
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dschleef
It's hilarious that people believe there was an actual, unstaged market
transaction selling a fish for $3k/pound.

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brazzy
Sure there was, it just sold a lot of publicity and prestige along with the
fish.

"Staged" to me implies that the price was not actually paid, and if you have
any information that indicates this was the case, please cite it.

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epipsychidion
So, with rising demand you'd expect rising prices which would in turn suppress
demand. Unless the object in question becomes a luxury good, in which case
rising prices would in turn contribute to an increase in demand due to
conspicuous consumption (can't be sure of the net effect but I'd speculate
it'd be an increase or flattening of demand at worst).

What would be the economic solution to this problem? One way would be a
moratorium but that seems politically unpalatable. One could hope that a
previously sidelined fish makes a comeback and replaces Bluefin as the sushi
staple; controlling tastes seems hard if not impossible so that would be
unlikely as well. Maybe convince a celebrity chef to endorse a cheaper (and
less endangered) fish?

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Synaesthesia
Quite tragic the way that Tuna and other fish are being overfished. Tuna are
like the tigers of the sea, they are at the top of the food chain. I just
don't see a way that we're going to stop before an environmental catastrophe.

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Ygg2
Problem is, even if we stop fishing and decide to not touch a single fish in
an ocean, our pollution and the global warming, will turn oceans into an
acidic (as in as acidic as regular rain gets) cesspit of jellies.

I don't mean - go on and farm every last one of them, just that it will soon
become an extinct creature, simply because we fucked up its environment beyond
repair already.

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wuschel
Sorry, but could you back up your statements with facts? This sounds to me as
a rather generic statement.

I have no idea about the adaptive capabilities of tuna, nor do I know the
actual change in pH values, or levels of chemical pollution.

Overfishing and the collapse of ecosymstems in the ocean is major factor (see
also whales, sharks, etc).

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Ygg2
Of course.

Problem is that ocean acidification (low pH) gives jellies advantages

[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121231180617.ht...](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121231180617.htm)
[http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/65/3/414.full](http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/65/3/414.full)
[http://www.spc.int/oceanfish/en/publications/doc_download/72...](http://www.spc.int/oceanfish/en/publications/doc_download/728-pfrp-
proposal-ocean-acidification-impacts-upon-tropical-tuna-populations)

Though some analysis point that there are no benefits to jelly fish.
[http://aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_53/issue_5/2040.pdf](http://aslo.org/lo/toc/vol_53/issue_5/2040.pdf)

Generally, from what I've heard, the global warming is already straining the
metabolisms of the existing sea creatures to a breaking point.

Problem is we need to a super sharp CO2 reduction right now, to just keep the
climate as it is now (i.e. patterns of extreme weather) and hope to restore
balance within 50 years. This is ofc based on simulation so God knows, how
accurate it is...

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wuschel
Hi,

thanks for the papers! I will have a look on them.

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rurounijones
230kg?!

Jeez, I never fully realised how big those suckers are.

