NEMURO, Hokkaido -- The season's first catch of about 260 kilograms of Pacific saury arrived at Hanasaki Port on August 18, and sold at auction for an astounding 54,000 yen just under $400 per kilo, a record price for a stick-held dip-net fishing port.
Amid reports of poor saury catch, the season started off with high prices of over 5,000 yen about $37 per fish. The Saury, a popular fall flavor in Japan, was landed by the 19- ton Dai 55 Kinryumaru boat belonging to the Habomai Fisheries Cooperative Association, which sailed off on Aug. 10.
Chief fisherman Eiji Kitami, 36, said there were fewer saury than we expected, and there was nothing that looked like a school. Highest bidder Takahisa Saito, 36, president of Eiho Reizou Co. in Nemuro, Hokkaido, said: I think it's expensive, but it's in-season. I bid that price to let people know that the season has started for Nemuro's saury. The main way to catch saury is by using stick-held dip-net fishing, in which a school of saury is lured by a light into a net attached to rods. Saury catches have been poor since 2015, and last year's national haul was a record low for the third year running, at 18,291 metric tons.