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Norwegian restaurant pays 75,000 kroner for 'world’s most expensive' fish

The Local Norway
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Norwegian restaurant pays 75,000 kroner for 'world’s most expensive' fish
An Atlantic bluefin tuna. Photo: cheekylorns2/Depositphotos"

A restaurant in northern city Bodø spent 75,000 kroner (7,500 euros) on a single Atlantic bluefin tuna.

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Although the market price of the exclusive fish is currently relatively low, the restaurant nevertheless decided to make the pricey investment, NRK reports.

Fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna was not permitted on Norwegian waters between 2007 and 2014.

The record sale of such a fish came in 2013, with a 489-pound example selling for $1.76 million at the Tsukiji market in Tokyo.

Around 40 percent of worldwide catches of bluefin tuna are sold to Japan, where it is an expensive and highly-demanded ingredient in sushi and sashimi, NRK writes.

Local media Avisa Nordland reports that the Bodø restaurant, Ohma, paid 75,000 kroner – working out at almost 400 kroner per kilo – for one of the fish.

Despite the high value of that particular purchase, local fishermen and companies are not impressed by general prices and see little value in fishing for the species, NRK reports.

The government has increased the quota for the fish to 239 tonnes from 104 tonnes last year in an attempt to stimulate the sector, according to the broadcaster.

But Fiskeribladet reports that only around 50 tonnes of the quota will have been used by the end of the year.

Jarle Uthaug, the captain of the boat which caught the expensive Bodø fish, told NRK he could not say exactly why it reached such a high price.

“There are maybe too many links in the chain, all of which have to earn money from bluefins. Nobody wants to work for free these days. It probably went through three or four stages after being delivered (at harbour),” he said.

Logistics and transport are expensive contributors to the high purchasing cost of the fish, the broadcaster reports.

The Atlantic bluefin is on the WWF’s list of endangered species. That means that boats fishing for the animal must pay to have an international inspector on board.

Additionally, specialist methods are needed to catch and store the animal, which can swim at up 70 kilometres per hour.

READ ALSO: Norway salmon farms ravaged by algae bloom

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