Giant Tuna Fetches $155,000 in Tokyo’s Fish Auction

A 208-kilogram bluefin tuna that was auctioned for about 20.8 million Japanese yen, or around 200,000 dollars, is displayed after the first tuna auction of the New Year in Tokyo, Japan January 5, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
A 208-kilogram bluefin tuna that was auctioned for about 20.8 million Japanese yen, or around 200,000 dollars, is displayed after the first tuna auction of the New Year in Tokyo, Japan January 5, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
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Giant Tuna Fetches $155,000 in Tokyo’s Fish Auction

A 208-kilogram bluefin tuna that was auctioned for about 20.8 million Japanese yen, or around 200,000 dollars, is displayed after the first tuna auction of the New Year in Tokyo, Japan January 5, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS
A 208-kilogram bluefin tuna that was auctioned for about 20.8 million Japanese yen, or around 200,000 dollars, is displayed after the first tuna auction of the New Year in Tokyo, Japan January 5, 2021, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

In the first auction of the year at Tokyo's fish market on January 6, a huge bluefin tuna sold for 16.88 million yen (around $155,000).

The prices of fish have dropped worldwide affected by the pandemic.

Local media said this year’s auction at the Toyosu fish market is the first in six years to sell a tuna fish for under 20 million yen, according to the German News Agency.

The fish, weighing 211 kg, was caught off in Oma, one of the country’s best tuna fishing spots on the northern side of the Honshu Island. The fish was bought by a wholesaler for approximately $690 per kilogram.

The consumption of bluefin tuna in Japan is higher than any other country. The excessive fishing of this type exposes it to a serious extinction threat.



Prince William Takes Early-Morning Nature Walk Near South Africa’s Table Mountain

 Prince William, Prince of Wales talks to Megan Taplin, Park Manager for Table Mountain National Park during his visit at Signal Hill on November 05, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Ian Vogler/Pool via Reuters)
Prince William, Prince of Wales talks to Megan Taplin, Park Manager for Table Mountain National Park during his visit at Signal Hill on November 05, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Ian Vogler/Pool via Reuters)
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Prince William Takes Early-Morning Nature Walk Near South Africa’s Table Mountain

 Prince William, Prince of Wales talks to Megan Taplin, Park Manager for Table Mountain National Park during his visit at Signal Hill on November 05, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Ian Vogler/Pool via Reuters)
Prince William, Prince of Wales talks to Megan Taplin, Park Manager for Table Mountain National Park during his visit at Signal Hill on November 05, 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Ian Vogler/Pool via Reuters)

Prince William went on an early-morning nature walk near South Africa's Table Mountain on Tuesday to promote the work of conservation rangers in a unique urban national park.

The Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne met with some of the rangers who guard the Table Mountain National Park, an 85-square-mile (220-square kilometer) area that overlooks Cape Town and spills into the city's suburbs in some areas.

William didn't go to the top of the famous flat-topped mountain, instead strolling through nature trails on Signal Hill, a foothill that sits by the ocean's edge.

The prince was accompanied on the walk by Megan Taplin, the park manager, and Robert Irwin, an Australian conservationist. William met with rangers, park firefighters and members of a K-9 dog unit.

“He got to learn about what they do on a daily basis and what challenges they face,” Taplin said. “We also spoke a lot about ranger wellness and how that's really important that rangers are supported, that their families are supported, because they are doing quite dangerous work and difficult work.”

William is in South Africa to promote his annual Earthshot Prize, which awards $1.2 million in grants to five entrepreneurs or organizations for innovative ideas that help the environment and combat climate change. William set up the Earthshot Prize in 2020 through his Royal Foundation and the awards ceremony will be held in Cape Town — the first time it's been in Africa — on Wednesday night.

The prince's four-day visit is a kind of environmental roadshow and is heavily focused on climate and conservation, though he did break away from those issues on his first day in Cape Town on Monday to attend a rugby practice at a local high school and play a little of South Africa's favorite sport with some of the kids.

William was also due to meet with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the president's Cape Town residence on Tuesday.

William has a range of engagements planned in South Africa's second-biggest city, including meetings with young environmentalists, attending a wildlife summit, visiting a botanical garden and spending time at a sea rescue institute and with a Cape Town fishing community.

William last visited Africa in 2018 but he has a strong connection to the continent. He traveled there as a boy after the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a Paris car crash in 1997. He and his wife, Kate, got engaged at a wildlife conservancy in Kenya in 2010. And he said he came up with the idea for the Earthshot awards while in Namibia in 2018.

Before the visit, William said that Africa has always had “a special place in my heart.” William's brother Prince Harry visited South Africa and neighboring Lesotho last month for a charity he set up in southern Africa.

William's wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis did not travel to South Africa. Kate only recently returned to some public duties after completing treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.